ANAHEIM : Stadiums TEAM Up to Deal With Drunks

It wasn’t long ago that stadiums and arenas across the country tolerated drunk spectators as the price to be paid if they were to sell large quantities of highly profitable beer.

But no more. Sports marketing today is aimed at families who may not come back if exposed to loud, rude or drunk fans.

Hoping to learn Techniques Effective in Alcohol Management (TEAM), representatives from stadiums and arenas across the United States and Canada have been meeting at the Anaheim Arena this week.

The program--sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, all four major professional sports leagues, the CBS television network, stadium trade groups and Mothers Against Drunk Driving--teaches stadium personnel how to deal with fans who have had too much to drink. Organizers hope that stadium managers at the seminar will return home and teach the program to their employees.

“Who wants to go to a place where you have to hear foul language and have beer spilled on you?” asked seminar organizer Michael T. Impellizzeri of the Department of Transportation. “If you bring your family to an event, you don’t want to expose your kids to conduct that is opposed to your ideals.”

TEAM began in 1985 after polls of the public and season-ticket holders showed that the top complaint about attending sports events was the exposure to drunk and unruly fans, Impellizzeri said.

“TEAM is unique in that it brings together all of the employees at an arena or stadium,” he said. The program wants to teach all employees how to spot a drunk, deal with them in a courteous but firm manner and assure them that management will support them.

“It starts in the parking lot, through the ticket sellers, the concessionaires and the ushers, Impellizzeri said. “They are all lines of defense” in preventing drunkenness and are “important in ensuring that everyone will have a good time at the facility.”

Many of TEAM’s concepts are already in place at the Anaheim Arena, spokesman John Nicoletti said. At some events, such as high school basketball games, no alcohol is sold. During Mighty Ducks hockey games, beer sales are stopped midway through the third period, and obvious drunks are cut off immediately, he said.

“I know the image of hockey fans is that they are rowdy, but we have a different class of fan here,” Nicoletti said. “We have a lot more families, and it is very important for us to maintain an atmosphere that they enjoy.”