As Minnesota Vikings fans were getting ready for the
final game at the Metrodome last December, officials at Whelan Security
noticed social media chatter suggesting some of the faithful might rush
the field and try to steal a piece of history.
So the firm that
provides security for the Vikings boosted the number of guards present
that day to maintain calm during the team’s 14-13 win against Detroit.
They
checked online chatter in part because there was a precedent for chaos:
When the team had its final game in Metropolitan Stadium in 1981, fans
rushed the field and nabbed anything and everything that wasn’t bolted
down.
"It allowed us to have an idea of what was going on in the
mindset of the people in the building so we could counteract that," said
Jeff Spoerndle, Whelan’s director of special services.
Turns out
big brother is watching what fans are doing before they ever even scan a
ticket to get inside a game. Security firms tasked with monitoring fan
behavior to stop them from rushing the court, threatening a coach or
player, or getting rowdy during a big game are increasingly turning to
social media as a predictor of whether or not fans will get feisty.
The
firms are taking their lead from police, who’ve long used Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and other sites to monitor chatter that could tip
them off to potential criminal activity in their communities.
With
the NCAA tournament in full swing, companies hired to provide security
at venues from Spokane, Wash., to Orlando, Fla., have an added option in
watching for fans who might take things too far. As the popularity of
sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram continues to grow, apparently
so has their use by those protecting college and pro sporting events.
None
of the security companies that worked the second and third-round sites
for the NCAA tournament would discuss specific protocols with The
Associated Press or disclose specifically what they’re looking for,
saying it would defeat their efforts to keep the tournament safe. But
Mark Williams, the security manager for the NCAA tournament host Spokane
Arena, did acknowledge that monitoring social media is a common
practice in the industry.
"What it does for us is that it gives us
a heads up. It’s not our first line of defense and we don’t fall back
on it. It’s information that helps us in our planning and in our
preparation," said David Yorio, managing director of New York-based
Citadel Security Agency.
Court security has been an issue for
college basketball all season. A student was accused of spitting on two
Oregon staff members, fans charged the court during an altercation after
a game between New Mexico State and Utah Valley, and a fan sprinted
onto the court at UC Santa Barbara to confront the Hawaii coach before
dashing back into the stands.
Some police departments and security
firms have used social media as a way to control incidents popping up
during games, too. Toronto police have long been proactive in the use of
social media, and the department uses its official Twitter account to
both monitor and listen to sports fans. Constable and social media
officer Scott Mills noted that social media also can instantly affect
fan behavior.
While staffing a Toronto FC game, he noticed that
the soccer team’s supporters were throwing debris on the field
specifically to get the attention of an attractive woman whose job
included running out to clean up the mess. Mills called out the fans on
Twitter, and they soon stopped.
"For the police and the security
firm, if you have a communications strategy, using social media … you
can get your message out for orderly conduct or for in the event of an
emergency, to actually communicate with the fans," he said.
Citadel,
which handles promotional events for the NFL, NHL and Major League
Soccer, considers social media an indispensable tool.
Yorio said
that Citadel will first look through the followers of a player or team
on Twitter and Instagram and monitor hashtags and other communication
for either a potential or a direct threat. If anything suspicious pops
up, Citadel will do a background check and see if they had applied for a
media credential or bought a ticket.
Citadel will then alert staffers on the ground to be aware of what they found.
"It’s
just mind-blowing that you can, in a 10- or 15-minute search, follow
some hashtags, you follow a trail and you can uncover all kinds of
information," Yorio said.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.