Combating safety communication challenges at the Super Bowl

The range of potential public safety concerns at a Super Bowl is vast. To address these concerns, the team needs to be ready to combat everything from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats to cyber security attacks. Other team members are constantly conducting infrastructure and venue security assessments.

"It's just like a president's inauguration in terms of security—you get that many agencies involved," Dugan said. "You have to be able to communicate, no matter what, and your biggest fear is not being able to communicate if something happens."

While communication and a few other public safety issues remain consistent from one Super Bowl to another, the 2022 game had some significant security challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dugan noted that first responders needed to adhere to health and safety protocols that wouldn't have been a factor a few years before.

"There was still a requirement for social distancing and for wearing masks," he said. "That meant they had to think about how they were going to control the queue to get fans into the stadium safely. There were a lot of different logistical challenges due to the pandemic."

Strong partnerships also help law enforcement and public safety agencies assess what kind of communication technology each team is working with and develop an interoperable solution. From an IT perspective, this can be a significant challenge, as not everyone is working on a level playing field.

  Local police departments don't have some of the technology that the federal government may have or that some of these other different partners have. That's why it's so important that you have a strong partnership with your network provider.”

– Brian Dugan, Verizon First Responder Advisory Council, and former Chief of Police, Tampa, Florida

That’s where Verizon Frontline plays a critical role.

"The Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team works with them closely at these big events prior to the game to make sure the network was at optimal performance,” Dugan said. “Then there's the after action review where officials gave us the devices they used at the event, so Verizon could analyze that data to make sure that everything was working so that they could apply it to future events.

“I even gave Verizon my phone number, and they looked at the data to see how the phone performed during the event.”

Overcoming interoperability hurdles also is critical because there's another group who keeps their eyes on security issues—the public.

"The biggest concern you have about communications is not only about your first responder community but your fans that are out there," Dugan said. "You're relying on them to give you feedback, to call 911 or to put something out on social media. You're monitoring all these different things, and so from a public safety standpoint, you're concerned about the ability to communicate with each other and also with the general public."

First responders can't let their guard down once the Super Bowl wraps, either. Dugan noted post-game celebrations can attract sizable crowds and introduce other unexpected and unpredictable risks, especially when—as in this case—the local team, the Rams, emerged as the winner.

"You have a lot more people that come into the area that don't even go to the game—they just want to be part of the experience," he said. "They want to stand outside the stadium and hope they get to see Tom Brady or whomever. It just creates a lot of other pressure."

By integrating 5G UWB technology into the JOC's internet service, police and other first responders were able to stream the video surveillance footage captured by the helicopters flying around the area during the game in 4K. The throughput was not only more powerful than what was available previously, but also provided multiple layers of redundancy in case other network services went down.

Being able to stream 4K video is critical because it offers the bit rate and pixel count that give law enforcement teams the ability to see what's going on in granular detail. Police could zoom in to identify an object in somebody's hand, for instance, or whether the object they're carrying was a backpack or not.

"We had about 30 screens of different sizes, with footage coming from all different sources," Au said. "Some of the displays were actually showing live footage from the cameras so personnel could have firsthand knowledge of what was happening at different intersections."

Long-term return on investment for the entire community

Though Super Bowl LVI may be over, the value the community will receive from Verizon's investment in 5G technology is only beginning. That infrastructure will be utilized for years to come, whether in support of a future Super Bowl or for similar gatherings.

"These stadiums where the Super Bowls are held are used for multiple reasons,” Dugan said. “The fact that Verizon's investment sticks around is very important—not only for law enforcement or first responders but for our citizens to be able to communicate with each other and with our first responders."

Preparing with trusted partners

For Au, the success in protecting the public during Super Bowl LVI was a good reminder to start preparations early, "you should not buy new shoes days prior to the marathon, so you can focus on the event and not the shoes on the day of." Starting the strategic discussions with disparate public safety agencies and investing in technologies early in the process helps organizations get into a greater state of readiness at the time of an event.

Dugan added that it's also important to stay up to date on technology because it rapidly changes and improves. But you can't stay abreast of the latest innovations effectively, he said, without cultivating a strong relationship with the right trusted advisers, including his fellow VFRAC members.

With a successful Super Bowl LVI, Verizon's partnership with Inglewood helps to prepare for future events. "Sometimes as a law enforcement or first responder community, we know what we need and where we want to go, but we don't know how to get there," he said. "It's so important that you have those partnerships. I don't think people realize—or at least I didn't realize—the quality and the tenure of the employees at Verizon, and the commitment that they put in far in advance to make everything in public safety better."