You might be surprised to hear this from me, but I’d have no problem with the NBA banning the sale of beer at Pistons games for the rest of the year. In fact, I think Stern ought to do it. The only drawback I think would be if temperance groups took heart in such a move, and gained momentum to codify a similar ban into law.

I think a ban makes sense for two reasons:

1) The Pistons organization got off light in all of this. They had piss-poor security on hand, and their CEO made some stupid, smug comments the same night everything unfolded. They ought to be punsihed. And beer is the biggest markup and the biggest profit-maker of any stadium-sold concession. Hit the Pistons where it hurts. In the wallet.

2) The Pistons fans are likely to get off light, too. The few people who threw punches who can also be identified from the video might face misdemeanor charges. But this was a mass display of ugliness. A pretty large percentage of that crowd took part in showering the Pacers in beer and food. Best way I can think of to punish them en masse is to take their beer away. Especially in Detroit.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think beer caused the riot. I don’t think taking beer away from sports will prevent stuff like this from happening in the future. And I absolutely don’t think the states or God forbid Congress needs to further regulate alcohol sales at sporting events.

But if the NBA — a private organiation — wants punish one of its franchises by banning the sale of beer for the year, I not only have no problem, I think it might be a good idea.

Probably not going to happen, though.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 23rd, 2004 at 1:07 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Alcohol, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.