Coliseum to Impose One-Game Beer Ban : Alcohol: Decision will be in force when Raiders play Sunday. Sales will be restricted at other contests, including USC’s.

Alcohol sales during Sunday’s Los Angeles Raiders football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will be prohibited, and the sale of beer during subsequent Raider and USC contests at the stadium will be severely restricted, county Supervisor Mike Antonovich announced Thursday.

The one-game ban--imposed in the wake of the brutal beating of a Pittsburgh Steeler fan at the stadium last month--will be in effect Sunday when the Raiders play the Seattle Seahawks. In addition, police and stadium security will be increased, in part to check fans for smuggled booze.

In explaining the beer ban, Antonovich said:

“Many times, you get the attention of the whole school because of a small group of malcontents. This is a message. We need to send a message that we will not tolerate illegal and obnoxious behavior at Raider games.”

During ensuing Raider and Trojan home games, Antonovich said, beer container sizes will be reduced from 20 ounces to 16 ounces, and the alcohol content of beer will be decreased from 3.6% to 3.2%. Also, vendors will be forced to quit selling beer after halftime instead of after the third quarter, as they have in the past.

“We will be ensuring that any action that occurs occurs on the football field and not in the stadium stands,” said Antonovich, chairman of the Coliseum Commission subcommittee appointed to resolve the problem of fan violence.

Antonovich said he was unsure how much in revenues the ban and restrictions might cost the stadium. Some city officials have said that beer sales account for 30% of all concession revenues.

The Coliseum Commission subcommittee--Antonovich, City Councilman Robert Farrell and Assistant Police Chief Jesse Brewer--was created after Steeler fan Paul Albrecht, 35, was pummeled and kicked in the head as he walked through a throng of cheering Raiders boosters. Albrecht, of Tucson, Ariz., was temporarily placed in neurological intensive care at County-USC Medical Center, but has since been released from the hospital.

Officials from the Coliseum and Spectacor, the stadium’s private manager, said the price of the 16-ounce container of beer will be $3.75. Previously, a 14-ounce container cost $3.25 and a 20-ounce container $4.25. Neither of those containers is sold any longer, said George Gonzalez, Spectacor general manager.

Gonzalez said that 25 cents of each $3.75 spent on the 16-ounce containers will be allocated to the local Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management training program, which teaches the Coliseum staff how to handle excessive alcohol consumption by fans.

While they stressed the need for the new measures, Coliseum and committee officials were quick to insist that the violence in the stands was not limited to Raiders home games.

“This isn’t just the L.A. Coliseum’s problem or the Raiders’ problem,” said N. Matthew Grossman, the president of the Coliseum Commission. “We learned that, when the Raiders left Buffalo after a game, rocks were thrown at the Raiders’ bus as they left town. We think our actions might set a precedent for other stadiums.”

Gonzalez said the number of Los Angeles police officers at the stadium would be increased to quell possible fights and stymie often rambunctious tailgate parties. He said he was unsure of the exact size of the increase.

Stadium and commission officials said they were unsure how long the new restrictions would last.

“We are going to see how permanent this must be,” Grossman said. “There is always the chance anything could change.”

City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who had called for a permanent ban on beer and wine cooler sales at the Coliseum, said he was pleased with the one-game ban but was skeptical of the restrictions.

“If the ban works, they will have a difficult time explaining why they are lifting it,” said Yaroslavsky. “I hope they will have an open enough mind to revisit the ban issue. . . . Fans are there to see the Raiders and root for them, not to be intimidated and threated by bullies and hooligans.”

But committee members said they were more concerned with squelching the violence than with ending beer sales.

“We are not engaging the issue of alcoholism,” Farrell said. “We are engaging the issue of fan violence.”

Farrell added that the committee was concerned with the possibility that fans unhappy with the decision might boycott Raiders games, but he said he hoped that they would support the decision.

“If there is fan backlash, then so be it,” the councilman said.