Rams Try to Curb Violence : Restrictions: Smaller drink sizes followed by shorter tailgate parties are attempts to reduce alcohol consumption.

Thirsty Los Angeles Rams fans got less beer for their buck Sunday as the size of drinks sold at concession stands was reduced in an attempt to curb violent outbreaks such as the beating of a fan that occurred at the Los Angeles Coliseum two weeks ago.

And beginning Oct. 21, the next Rams’ home game, hundreds of fans will have to wait an extra hour before they can congregate in the stadium parking lot for pregame tailgate parties. The parking lot will open at 11 a.m. rather than 10 a.m. in another attempt to reduce alcohol consumption.

The early indications are that less beer was consumed Sunday and there were fewer confrontations and less violence in the stands than at the previous Rams’ home game two weeks earlier, police and officials said.

“I think we have to measure it, but I think we are on the right track,” said Dick Beam, Rams’ director of operations. “There seemed to be less abusiveness of language and less intimidation.”

Compared to the Sept. 23 Rams-Philadelphia Eagles game where there were three or four fights in the stands, on Sunday there were one brief scuffle and no arrests for violence, Anaheim police Capt. Randy Gaston said.

Anaheim Stadium, according to the Rams’ Beam, is “ranked in the bottom four of the entire league of 28 teams in terms of disturbances.”

“We haven’t had what I would term a serious problem at all,” Beam said. “Our intent was let’s not let it get to a major problem.”

The largest serving of beer available at Rams games before Sunday was a 22-ounce cup which sold for $4. It outsold all smaller sizes by about eight to one.

On Sunday the largest size sold at concession stands was 18 ounces, but the price remained $4.

The Rams received some calls Monday complaining of the reduced size, Beam said.

“Obviously, you have people who complain that you decreased the amount of beer and kept the same price,” Stadium general manager Greg Smith said. But he said the intent was not to gouge beer drinkers or to increase revenue.

Smith and Beam said the smaller-size beers resulted in less beer sold, less beer consumed and less beer revenue for the team and the city, which divide the profits.

“What we are doing is raising the price per ounce of beer to cut the beer consumption,” Smith said.

In some areas of Anaheim Stadium where problems have occurred in the past, concessionaires shut down beer sales 15 minutes into the third quarter Sunday, Gaston said.

“There were a couple of disturbances, but I don’t think we had any fights per se,” he said. “Of course, it was a barn-burner game too.”

Whether the reduction in violence was the result of an exciting, overtime contest or smaller beer sizes remains to be seen, Gaston said.

Representatives of the Rams, the City of Anaheim and the stadium concessionaire will meet this week to evaluate the results of Sunday’s change in policy and decide whether to continue the effort or take additional measures.