The Buffalo Bills lost to the Denver Broncos Monday night, but Orchard Park, N.Y., authorities say the policy of banning beer sales at Rich Stadium throughout the game was a winner.
”I saw a difference,” said Thomas Stabell, chief of patrol services for the Erie County Sheriff`s Department. ”We haven`t had a Monday night game in five years, but I remember the ones we had, and this was a lot better.”
Robert C. Henning, chief of police in Orchard Park, called the Bills-Denver game the ”easiest Monday night game ever” since the stadium opened in 1973. A sellout crowd of 78,716 fans attended the game.
Stabell said sheriff`s deputies made 16 arrests for disorderly conduct or misdemeanor assault: seven outside the stadium and nine inside. The only out- of-the-ordinary occurrence, police reported, was a fan who ran onto the field during the game`s first quarter. The man was subdued and removed by stadium security personnel.
”You can always expect some problems,” Stabell said. ”When you get 80,000 people, there are bound to be a few troublemakers.”
Bills spokesman Scott Berchtold said the team was pleasantly surprised by the absence of alcohol-related incidents. ”You always have stuff you think is going to creep up that even the most careful planning can`t account for,” he said. ”We had done a lot of preparation for this.”
Although fans were generally well-behaved, some questioned the beer ban.
”You pay enough to get in here,” said one spectator, who held a coffee cup filled with a mixture of unidentified ingredients. ”You should be able to yell and drink if you want.”
