Last month, as extreme weather bore down on Florida, CNN reported the news that NFL football stadiums would be doubling as emergency response hubs during future weather disasters.
Under a new partnership between the NFL and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), four stadiums are so far being prepared to convert to shelters, staging areas, emergency hospitals, and distribution centers during hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods.
The first stadiums in the arrangement are MetLife (New York Jets and New York Giants); Lumen Field (Seattle Seahawks); Acrisure Stadium (Pittsburgh Steelers); and Raymond James Stadium (Tampa Bay Buccaneers).
One other stadium — SoFi Stadium, which hosts the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers — is under review to be included.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell called the plan a “groundbreaking opportunity” that other stadiums could join. “While we are starting with the NFL, all venues across sports organizations and leagues can become assets to their communities, and I encourage them to join in this collaborative effort as we grapple with the impacts of the climate crisis,” Criswell said in a statement quoted in CNN.
It’s not the first time a football stadium has served in an emergency; the New Orleans Superdome was famously used in 2005 as a shelter of last resort for Hurricane Katrina. Also famously, the stadium lost power and supplies ran out, so certainly a real plan for deploying these buildings would be helpful. Stadiums also served informally as hubs for Covid-19 response at the height of pandemic. How much more could be done with the right planning, coordination and stadium features, including AV?
It seems reasonable to take advantage of the massive investment in stadiums and their multi-faceted infrastructures in times of extreme weather. The NFL and FEMA are on the same page with that after the NFL first approached the federal government with the idea to open their stadiums during extreme weather and other disasters.
“Stadiums are valuable community assets that are often used in times of disasters,” NFL chief security officer Cathy Lanier said in a statement reported in CNN. “This designation reflects the role that many stadiums play, not only on Sundays, but especially in times of need.”
To be officially designated by the federal government as an emergency location, stadiums need to be centrally located, close to major roadways and health care services like hospitals, accessible for those with disabilities, and able to deploy food, water, and medical care quickly.
Even for those stadiums not yet officially designated by FEMA as shelters, it may be worthwhile to help your stadium clients understand whether AV systems could help the be of service in weather emergencies. It happens informally already, now it could happen deliberately and with forethought.
