South Carolina Council considering 2nd half alcohol ban at Levi’s

At Tuesday night’s meeting of the stadium authority, members talked about banning alcohol sales in the second half of the game to help stop drunk fans from getting violent.

After the 49ers season-opening win against the Vikings last week, a few fans of the red and gold brutally beat a Vikings fan in the parking lot outside Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

O’Neill along with councilwomen Lisa Gillmor and Debi Davis wants the council to consider restricting alcohol sales at the stadium, perhaps cutting off them off at half time. “We are having one of St. Francis’s followers here in the country this week”, said Santa Clara City Councilwoman Teresa O’Neill. “I’m not prepared to take a knee-jerk reaction out of one isolated incident”, said Caserta.

Police Chief Michael Sellers said they make 22 to 30 arrests during 49ers games, and that out of the 70,000 fans who show up to games, only “a tenth of a percent” of them pose a problem.

O’Neill, who must not have attended a lot of National Football League games, said she had no idea before Levi’s opened that there was so much drinking outside stadiums. Stadiums around the nation vary in policy: MetLife stadium in New York ends all sales at the start of the third quarter, while many others share Santa Clara’s limit at the end of that play period.

The latest assault happened around 10:20 p.m. September 14 just outside a parking lot as fans were going back to their cars after the game. Police at the time said witnesses described him as being under the influence. “We want to do everything we can do to have this shiny new stadium that no one’s afraid to come to”. The 49ers’ brass was convinced that such behavior would vanish with the move from Candlestick Park (and the extreme jump in ticket prices), but there have been a reported 24 police responses to assault since the 49ers moved to Santa Clara.