By Ellen Rugeley
When Guidepost Solutions was looking for speakers to be in its Fall 2013 Distinguished Speaker Series, there was no shortage of potential candidates.
But only one was a slam dunk — NBA Commissioner David Stern. Since he began his tenure almost 30 years ago, the NBA has added seven franchises, had a 30-fold increase in revenues, expanded its national television exposure, and launched the WNBA and the NBA Development League.
Stern, who will retire at the end of the current NBA season, didn’t disappoint. He stepped to the podium on Nov. 14 and gave a compelling take on “Security in Sports: Intense Focus and Little Fanfare,” presenting the NBA’s perspective on security planning and venue security, as well as the security challenges of staging events abroad.
Stern began his presentation by discussing the different security aspects that they worry about at the NBA. The first being the NBA’s 1,200 employees, located in 13 different countries. In addition to the employees themselves, they worry about their office locations, travel itineraries and how they maintain contact with their employees while they are traveling.
The second are the “20 million people or so” that the NBA entertains in its facilities, which includes 29 arenas. They have the architectural plans for all 29 arenas and maintain close relationships with law enforcement in each of those jurisdictions. They have been “hardening” their many facilities since the terrorist attacks in 2001. They even brought in several people from the CIA to learn how to deal with ricin. As a result, they now know where all the air ducts are and keep them locked at all times. They also use German shepherds to sweep their facilities.
Since 2001, they have been hardening their facilities on an ongoing basis, both getting in and moving around, while trying to be as noninvasive as possible. They are currently inspecting all bags. They’ve been studying what the NFL’s been doing with their plastic bags, but they have a “little bit of a different issue with respect to our fans who come in the evening, regularly from work as opposed to driving to the facility,” said Stern.
In addition, they have worked with Homeland Security, the FBI Terrorism Task Force, local police and have also experimented with new technologies including the iris scanner. According to Stern, frequent visitors like season ticket holders will eventually be able to enter arenas through the Global Entry program.
Once inside the building they have a different kind of security concern: how to keep players and fans separate from a security perspective? Since the players and fans are not separated by glass or any partitions, they have modified how and where they position security over the years.
Another concern is how accessible the players are. They were shirts and shorts, no long-sleeves or pants, and are not protected by hats or helmets. However, this is also a premise of their business — the best seat in sports is a courtside seat at an NBA game.
NBA Adjusts to International Security Threats
Another concern is their 450 players traveling internationally. They’ve already played approximately 160 games outside of the United States. During preseason/exhibition games this year they played in several different countries including Istanbul, which brought about a new security concern over U.S. tension with Syria, whose border was only 800 miles away. They did a series of “table top exercises” in conjunction with the state department, regional security officer, their on-the-ground consultants, local law enforcement, the army and a variety of other groups to prepare for any security concerns in Istanbul.
They also traveled to Rio, which gave them concerns from both a movement and a security perspective. Stern noted that there were also interesting relationships between “law enforcement and law breakers.” They had “real travel concerns” in Rio and with the WNBA they have two sets of teams traveling there for the Olympics in 2016.
They also traveled to Manila, where they were concerned about getting out before an earlier typhoon, creating a weather security concern. In order to be prepared, they implicated and practiced escape exercises.
Despite any concerns, they had a great, sold-out exhibition season and are now planning for two regular season games outside of the United States. One game will be in Mexico City and the other in London.
According to Stern, the NBA imagines and re-imagines their security strategy on a regular basis. They use technology, evacuate offices on a regular basis, have websites and emergency phone calls and phone numbers and the like. “It’s an ongoing, very important concern for anyone who is involved in professional sports or any sports because of both our celebrities who are traveling which is a whole other issue of high visibility, important people and it winds up constricting us a bit.” Over the years they have narrowed the circumference of the places that they have their people go when they land and what they do.
During this summer about 130 players and legends, apart from the games that they played outside of the U.S. visited international destinations. The NBA is a little bit further removed from the front line in these situations because some are going with the State Department’s Sports and Diplomacy branch. In these situations, the NBA does a general coordination with the security outlets in the places where players are traveling.
The final concern are the big events where they “partner with the Department of Homeland Security with whatever designation we can get for certification versus some other status,” and even branch into the private sector and partner with companies like Guidepoint Solutions. They have an operation/command center at these big events with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Homeland Security, local police, FBI, and a variety of other people for security purposes.
It’s a process of “prevention, management and response,” said Stern. They don’t have any solutions. They have a series of understandings of protocols and procedures. “It’s very costly, very spread out and it’s put into play virtually everyday of the year for us,” said Stern.
Previous Distinguished Series speakers include: Hon. Michael Garver Oxley, former U.S. Congressman and Chairman, House Financial Services Committee; Brian Michael Jenkins, Senior Advisor to the President of the RAND Corporation; Major General David Senty, former Chief of Staff, U.S. Cyber Command; and Rudolph W. Giuliani, Chairman and CEO of Giuliani Partner LLC and Partner at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP.
Guidepost Solutions is a global leader in investigations, due diligence, security design consulting, immigration/cross-border consulting, and monitoring and compliance solutions.
