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An Entertainment District
The expanding role of sports arenas’ security
Remember classic stadiums like
Wrigley Field, Chicago’s old
baseball park, or Forbes Field,
the old baseball and football
park in Pittsburgh? On game day, fans
were throwing tailgate parties in the parking
lot, then heading into the stadium to
cheer on their teams. Once the game was
over and fans left the park, security locked
up and the venue went dark until the next
home game.
Those venues represent a bygone era.
Today’s arenas have become an entertainment
district designed to not only capitalize
on game day crowds but draw traffic
seven days a week to adjacent bars, restaurants,
concerts and other attractions both
in and around the stadium.
This transformation has dramatically
changed the role of venue security
teams. Before, staff was only responsible
for the safety and protection of the
stadium, the fans and the players during
the sporting event. Now the job is 24/7
and their sphere of responsibility often
encompasses the entire surrounding
entertainment district.
STEPPING UP
SECURITY OPERATIONS
In recognition of this new reality, stadiums
have been making a concerted effort
to upgrade and streamline security
operations to better ensure the safety of
the thousands of people on and around
their properties on any given day or night.
They’re not only keeping a watchful eye
on what’s happening in the arena and in
the stands, but they’re also monitoring the
concession concourse and retail kiosks,
private boxes and VIP suites as well as
areas like player/performer/employee entrances,
ticket gates, loading docks, parking
lots and activity in the surrounding
plaza. As an example:
The United Center, replaced the old Chicago Stadium built in 1929, creating
a safe environment has meant building
an in-house command center to monitor
hundreds of high-resolution network cameras
in and around the stadium. The fully
integrated, enterprise-level system is built
on open standards and designed to grow
with them, an important feature since they
recently added a large entertainment addition
to their site.
This article originally appeared in the July / August 2020 issue of Security Today.
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