The NBA Shouldn’t Back Off

Within hours of the National Basketball Assn.’s suspension of nine players for their parts in Friday night’s near-riot in suburban Detroit, the players union had signaled its intention to challenge the suspensions on legal grounds. The NBA should not back off an inch. Nor should teams flinch from enforcing fan decorum, even if it means cutting beer sales by half and doubling the security force.

Hostility between fans and teams is far from new. A century ago, professional basketball teams were erecting chain-link and wire-mesh cages around their courts to separate players and hostile fans. But a century should have brought more progress.

The NBA’s modern version was certainly better-televised. Among the images -- fans hurling curses and beer, players charging in and swinging wildly at their tormentors -- the most troubling was a child in the stands who broke into tears as the violence escalated. Short of stringing barbed wire and letting the chips, beer and chairs fall where they may, here’s what should be done:

* Slap stricter limits on beer sales. Many football and baseball stadiums already halt beer sales well before the game ends in order to avoid the behavior that erupted Friday night at the Detroit Pistons’ home arena.

* Improve security in arenas. After Friday night, it’s unclear who needs the most protection -- fans or players. Referees should maintain order on the court. But the league and its franchise owners must maintain order in the rest of the building. That means hiring enough private security to warn and then haul away trouble-making drunks. Adequate police should be on hand to back up arena security.

* Mete out appropriate punishment and make it stick. NBA Commissioner David Stern on Sunday suspended nine players for a cumulative 143 games, which translates into $12 million in lost salaries. The penalties should not go the way of those lodged against NBA player Latrell Sprewell after he choked his coach during a 1997 practice. His one-year suspension, already too mild, was cut by half.

Suspensions and fines alone won’t suffice. Criminal prosecutions should be mandatory. Police and prosecutors are still reviewing the game tapes and fan footage. Those responsible, on the court and in the stands, should be punished.

* The NBA should be prepared to drop the “neutron bomb” if it happens again. Some televised soccer matches have been played before empty stadiums because hooligans couldn’t be controlled. Imagine the deserved embarrassment that teams would suffer if television cameras were broadcasting the action without a single fan in the stands.