HONOLULU -- Football fans who enjoy drinking alcohol in Aloha Stadium during University of Hawaii football games are going to be able to indulge for at least two more months.

The Aloha Stadium Authority Thursday deferred voting on an alcohol ban during UH games. Instead, it formed a committee to study the issue.

Stadium authority members said they need more time to study the impact of banning alcohol both in the stadium and at tailgate parties in the parking lot. The stadium authority wants to look into issues such as the difficulty of preventing stadium concessionaire Centerplate from selling alcohol and how to enforce a ban.

Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona is leading the initiative to stop drinking at the stadium because of fighting, rowdy behavior and underage drinking.

"I am still optimistic it can happen this season. And, I am still hopeful and I will continue to push for this because it is the right thing to do," Aiona said.

The proposal was made in reaction to several well-publicized fights involving unruly fans. It's a move endorsed by the Honolulu Police Department and UH Interim President David McClain.

"We have a problem with the excessive consumption of alcohol at Aloha Stadium," McClain said.

The school's president said a ban on tailgate drinking would be harder to enforce.

The university's student government opposes the ban. The group organized a protest demonstration on campus Wednesday and said the proposal is an attack on students' rights.

"More than half the students at the University of Hawaii are of drinking age. And we deserve the right and the opportunity to be responsible consumers," one critic testified.

Others said it's not practical because of contracts the stadium has with concessionaires and other legal issues. Stopping the sale of alcohol could cost the university up to $200,000 in revenue from vendors.

James Von Rohr sells poke at the UH football games. He believes alcohol bans are not the way to go.

"For my business it would be catastrophic. I believe we could no longer stay in business should that happen," Von Rohr said.