Shaping the Future of Athletics Safety and Security

Athletic Business launched Sports Venue Safety in July, a new annual supplement focusing on safety and security issues.
Athletic Business launched Sports Venue Safety in July, a new annual supplement focusing on safety and security issues.

Editor's note: Look for more Sports Venue Safety articles as we publish a new one online each day this week. Or, view the entire digital issue here.

My first exposures to the issues of safety and security at a sporting event came when I was eight years old. It was at Old Comiskey, back when the Chicago White Sox were "winning ugly" in the American League West. I remember going to at least half a dozen games that year with my father as the White Sox fought for an AL West championship, but that wasn't the only fighting I witnessed. The fights in the stands became as much of a spectacle as the game itself. It got to a point that we never wondered if a fight would break it, but rather when. Though I attended games with my father, a U.S. Navy SEAL and Golden Gloves boxing champion, I never had a complete sense of safety. Still, I was undeterred. I loved going to Old Comiskey and watching the White Sox despite the extracurricular activities.

Going to any sporting event — be it youth, high school, collegiate or professional — remains something very special to me, and I am proud to share those experiences with my own children. But their gameday experience is vastly different from mine. As the athletes and sports themselves have evolved over the past 30 years, so have the security threats. Unruly fans will always be a staple of any sporting event, but there are new threats that are requiring venue managers to reevaluate how they are protecting their facilities, spectators, athletes and staff. Now more than ever, they need help.

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