Super Bowl Alcohol Ban Heading To SF? Mayor Ed Lee Wants To Prevent Riots By Restricting Booze

There could be a Super Bowl alcohol ban coming to San Francisco.

Mayor Ed Lee has suggested that restaurants and bars ban hard liquor drink during the big game on February 3. Lee believes that an alcohol ban would prevent riots in the city after the Super Bowl.

But Lee isn’t passing any new laws that would require restaurants to look up their liquor cabinets on February 3. Instead, the Mayor and Police Chief Greg Suhr will go on a tour around the neighborhoods that were effected by riots after the San Francisco Giants won the World Series in 2012. Lee said that they will talk to restaurant owners and “suggest that they serve something (other) than heavy alcohol during times of celebration, because that inebriation sometimes doesn’t help with people who want to maybe go beyond the bounds of acceptability in their celebration.”

The SF Gate reports that Lee will also be staying in SF instead of heading to New Orleans for the Super Bowl in order to oversee the activities after the game.

What do you think about Lee’s idea? Will banning alcohol during the Super Bowl prevent riots?

Football fans and hard liquor drinkers may scoff at the idea but several restaurant owners have come out in support of the ban.

Adam DeMezza, co-owner of the Giordano Brother’s sandwich and sports bar in the Mission District, said:

“It’s a good idea, but it’s going to be a tough sell. I can see where he’s coming from. I’m right on 16th and Valencia. We saw it go down between 16th and 18th streets after the World Series.”

USA Today reports that after the World Series in 2012, hundreds of fans took to the street to light fires, break bottles and flip cars. Rioters even destroyed a $700,000 Muni bus during the riots.

Lee said that he doesn’t want the same thing to happen after the Super Bowl.

Lee said: “I want the city to be both celebratory and safe for everyone.”