The Aloha Stadium Authority gave itself until later next month to make a final vote on a proposed alcohol ban for parking lot parties at University of Hawai'i football games.

The extra time may be good for the authority. It needs to come up with a more effective plan to control hooliganism.

Banning drinking at pre-game tailgating parties may keep fans sober until game time. But what good does that do if, once inside the stadium, fans are allowed to buy all the beer they want for at least three quarters of the game?

Clearly, a ban on alcohol in the parking lot won't do much to solve the bigger problem.

If officials are serious about public drunkenness, they need to invoke an "extreme security" plan, where bouncer-like officers would be empowered to remove well-sauced fans who display a lack of etiquette and common sense.

Arrests aren't necessary. An escorted removal from the premises is enough. Officials even talk of a hefty $1,000 fine. That would be both a deterrent and source of income.

The fact is, stadium officials are too much in thrall of beer concession revenue to consider the next logical step: a ban on alcohol sales and consumption. More and more college games are going dry. Even in the pros: The latest New York Jets-New England Patriots night game at Giants Stadium was dry in an attempt to crack down on fan drunkenness.

The pros know how serious the issue is. When a drunken fan left a New York Giants game in 1999, the fan got in a car accident that seriously injured a 7-year-old girl. Last January, a jury found the fan and Aramark, the stadium beer vendor, liable for $135 million in damages.

If Aloha Stadium officials don't want a Hawai'i version of that case, it had better come up with a plan centered on tough enforcement.