Santa Clara City Leaders Unable To Authorize Levi's Stadium Booze Ban
SANTA CLARA (CBS SF) -- After fights in the Levi's Stadium parking lot, bathroom and stands, the city of Santa Clara is talking about banning alcohol sales at halftime.
But on Tuesday, City Attorney Richard Nosky, Jr. made it clear that the city council and police department don't have the authority to impose booze bans.
"It's really a case-by-case threat versus an across the board measure," Nosky said.
Cops, however, are working with stadium management to decide when booze should be cut off at each game.
"If you cut off alcohol earlier people just binge drink, or they drink more in the parking lot," said Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews. "People that decide that they want to come to a game and use it as an excuse to get drunk are gonna get drunk, we can't avoid that."
The department presented new data from the last three games at Levi's.
In total, more than a 192,000 people attended, police made 58 arrests, booted 51 people from the stadium, and handed out 11 citations. And 32 season ticket holders were arrested or sold tickets to someone arrested.
"I would suspect that those numbers are a little higher than other stadiums and the reason why is because we have zero tolerance," said Santa Clara Police Chief Mike Sellers.
The new security system is also supposed to help fans stay on good behavior.
The state-of-the-art is also supposed to help fans stay on good behavior.
The team is trying out the new system ahead of Super Bowl 50.