What If A Major Stadium Was Hit?
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Back in 1977, a movie called “Black Sunday†about a plot to kill thousands of Americans at the Super Bowl in Miami got people a little concerned about the vulnerability of thousands of people should a human or natural disaster strike a large sports venue during a game or concert. Then, in 1989, millions of World Series fans were first irritated that the television feed glitched just before the start of Game 3. That turned to concern and even fear as the news came out that an earthquake near San Francisco had rocked the house.
After 9/11, in which terrorists had a clear goal to kill a large number of people, concern for events in arenas became more urgent.
In 2005, the University of Southern Mississippi established the Center for Spectator Sports Security, training university security personnel first responders on what best to do if an attack, or an event like a major earthquake or sudden tornado occurred, hitting a stadium with up to 80,000 people in it.
“Sports events in the United States offer the potential for a large number of casualties as well as widespread media coverage and economic impact,†according to Lou Marciani, director of Southern Mississippi’s School of Human Performance and Recreation. “The fear resulting from an event or a series of events would cripple a multi-billion dollar industry.â€
The Sports Security Center trains security and other personnel for:
Building security awareness
Emergency response, along with policies and procedures to ensure optimal response in an emergency
Evacuation and recovery operations
Natural disasters
Crowd Management
The ultimate goal is to partner a wide variety of organizations, especially emergency management, law enforcement, security agencies and athletic department staff to prevent tragedy by detecting potential threats, preventing or delaying attacks and minimizing casualties.
Schools that complete rigorous training and regular safety audits earn the Sports Event Security Awareness (SESA) Seal of Approval. The training covers four processes:
Assessing game day operation plans, physical protection plans, emergency response, and evacuation recovery plans, bringing polices and procedures up to date every three to five years.
Training relevant personnel for all of the above, plus how to assess the possibilities of threats and risks.
Conducting annual simulations including emergency response, evacuation and leadership team response.
An annual audit and updating of event security prep.
Early training was reminiscent of playing toy solders as a child, with tabletop simulations. In 2007, a $1 million computer simulations training tool was added to make training much more like an actual event. Staff members can tailor both the software and additional 3-D training tools to simulate the actual stadium and crowd of each school receiving training.
Different kinds of fans are in the simulation, too – for example those who run or walk fast or slow, small children, older adults and families