Research Impacts Practice Special research edition | December 2024

Current Threats and Emerging Trends in Sports Safety and Security

Allen, B. & Hall, S.

Sports Destination Management: Essential Planning & Location Strategies for Sport Event Organizers

Sporting events are a major part of American culture, drawing large crowds that expect safety and security. Venue directors face challenges such as inappropriate fan behavior, crowd management, severe weather, and threats from drones and cyber-attacks. The article highlights current threats and emerging trends in sports safety and security and offers venue directors solutions and resources to assist in mitigating these threats.

The Security Scorecard: Considerations for Sport Venue and Event Managers

Allen, B. & Hall, S.

Security Management: A publication of ASIS International

The security landscape for sport venues and events is increasingly complex, requiring proactive management to address various risks threatening the safety of athletes, fans, and staff. This article outlines critical security considerations facing venue managers, including rising incidents of negative fan behavior, extreme weather conditions, cyber threats, terrorism, and drone-related risks. This article emphasizes the importance of regular risk assessments, emergency drills, and the recruitment and training of security personnel to manage evolving threats.

Venue Security Director Survey Industry Research Report

Allen, B. & Hall, S.

The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security

This study aims to explore professional sports venue security issues, emerging threats, and technology solutions. Information gleaned from this study will assist venue security directors in planning and policy development, venue operations, and technology utilization. The survey consisted of 53 questions related to venue demographics, staffing, training, and development, facility operations, fan behavior, and technology solutions. The online survey was administered to venue security directors hosting professional sports teams from Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL).

Crime Related to Major Sporting Events

Bagwell, R., Leal, W. E., & Piquero, A. R.

Research Handbook on Major Sporting Events

This book chapter provides an overview of the relationship between crime and major sporting events and focuses on five topics. First, we will examine general findings about this association, and we will consider some of the nuances that may condition the relationship between major sporting events and crime. Second, the effect of stadiums and how they may contribute to increases in crime will be discussed. Third, given the inextricable link between alcohol and crime and that alcohol is virtually part and parcel of many sporting events, the role of alcohol will be examined. Fourth, we will discuss whether major sporting events impact sex trafficking. Lastly, we will explore hooliganism and post-event riots.

The Geospatial Patterning of Crimes Against Persons Calls for Service on Days With and Without San Antonio Spurs Games

Bagwell, R., Leal, W. E., Roy, S. S., Flanagan, H., Britton, L., Piquero, A. R., & Block, K.

Journal of Experimental Criminology

The objective is to examine how crimes against person (CAP) calls are spatially patterned around the Spurs’ arena and city. Using data from 2019–2021, we investigate the geospatial clustering of CAP calls when fans are and are not present. CAP calls are separated by Spurs game day or not, home or away games, and before or during COVID-19. ArcGIS Pro is used to run optimized hot spot analyses and hot spot comparisons with similarity values and spatial fuzzy kappa for each comparison. The largest hot spot is around the Riverwalk and downtown, and days with home games do not increase hot spots around the arena. There are significant changes in hot spots across the city on days with home versus away games and during COVID-19 versus before. The location of stadiums/arenas and proximity to popular areas with micro-facilities should be considered in sports and crime research and crime prevention discussions.

Public Policy Toward Professional Sports Stadiums: A Review

Bradbury, J. C., Coates, D., & Humphreys, B. R.

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management

This article informs public policy toward professional sports stadiums, which state and local governments routinely subsidize. Our analysis provides a history of stadium construction and funding in the U.S., documenting trends that portend a forthcoming new wave of stadiums. Despite robust evidence that stadiums are not economic development catalysts and confer limited social benefits, public outlays persist and exhibit a positive growth trajectory, which could prove costly to government budgets in the coming decades. We review contemporary justifications for public subsidies, focusing on proposed salutary development and budgeting strategies. Economic research continues to demonstrate that stadiums remain poor public investments, and optimal public funding of professional sports venues is substantially less than typical subsidy levels. We examine economic, political, and institutional factors that contribute to the disconnect between research and policy, and we provide recommendations to promote sound public policy.

Emotional Cues and Violent Behavior: Unexpected Basketball Losses Increase Incidents of Family Violence

Cardazzi, A., McCannon, B. C., Humphreys, B. R., & Rodriguez, Z.

The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization

Domestic violence generates long-term effects on offenders, victims, and other household members. While coercive behavior explains some family violence, aggression can also be reactive, triggered by emotional stimulus. Insight into triggers of family violence can inform policy and mitigate abusive behavior. Card, D. and G. B. Dahl. (2011) “Family Violence and Football: The Effect of Unexpected Emotional Cues on Violent Behavior,” 126 The Quarterly Journal of Economics 103–43 undertook a novel analysis of family violence triggers using unexpected losses by American professional football teams. We extend research on this trigger using data from National Basketball Association (NBA) games. Our results show that unexpected NBA losses lead to increased in-home violence. Heterogeneity analyses show that these effects are larger for weekend games, when referees are fatigued, and closer to the playoff season.

The Bold and the Branded [Audio Podcast]

Dunn, C., & Varriale-Barker, C (Hosts) and Laurajean (LJ) Holmgren (Guest Speaker)

Torts Center Podcast

Laurajean (LJ) Holmgren, Deputy Academic Director in Columbia University's Sports Management Program, discusses her experiences with the NFL, New York Jets, and various universities, highlighting the evolution of athletes into brands through social media and content creation. She emphasizes authenticity, strategic planning, and athlete-brand partnerships. The episode also explores Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter, sports marketing, social media trends, and safe sports venues, with LJ offering valuable advice for athletes looking to build their personal brands.

Sport Event Risk Management

Stacey A. Hall

Routledge Resources Online – Sports Studies

Regardless of event size, significance, or location, potential risks must be evaluated and addressed utilizing risk mitigation strategies. A key component to managing risk is conducting a risk assessment to identify assets, assess threats, detect vulnerabilities, evaluate potential consequences, analyze risk levels, and recommend countermeasure improvements. Risk mitigation strategies include developing plans and policies, implementing protective measures, training staff, conducting exercises, leveraging technology solutions, and benchmarking with peers.

Risk Assessment

Stacey A. Hall

Encyclopedia of Sport Management (2nd ed.)

Sport facility operators and event organizers must protect their physical, cyber, and human assets from potential threats. To do so, managers should implement a robust risk management program that considers the likelihood of threats and identifies actions to reduce risk and mitigate the consequences of incidents. A critical component of the risk management program is conducting a formal risk assessment to evaluate the current security profile of a facility/event and highlight security gaps or vulnerabilities.

The Business of Sports Betting

Harris, B., Holden, J. T., & Fried, G. (Eds.)

Human Kinetics

With the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, regulated sports betting has exploded in the United States, with more than half the states adopting legalized sports betting and many more poised for business. As a result, career opportunities with sportsbook operators and venues; sport leagues, teams, and sponsors; and gaming regulatory agencies abound for today’s students. The Business of Sports Betting offers a comprehensive introduction to the nuances of the sports betting industry, including the key players, regulatory environment, marketing and technology drivers, and business operations of a sportsbook.

Legalized Sports Betting and Mental Health

Humphreys, B. R. & Ruseski, J.

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Since the Supreme Court declared the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 unconstitutional in 2018, 38 states and the District of Columbia legalized face-to-face and/or online betting on sports. A potential unintended consequence of legalized sports betting is an increased risk for mental health disorders and problem gambling. Using a staggered difference-in-differences framework, we exploit variation in the timing of adoption of legal sports betting across states to evaluate the impact of these laws on mental health outcomes. We combine data on when states passed laws to legalize gambling with data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from 2013-2022 for the analysis. The results show that BRFSS participants reported worse mental health in terms of the fraction of the sample reporting one or more bad mental health days, the reported number of bad mental health days in the past month, and the number of people reporting suffering from depressive disorders. Increased access to sports betting reduces mental health. These results can help stakeholders to assess the risk of legalized sports betting on mental health.

Game Day Traffic and Sports: Evidence from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx

Hwang, H., Humphreys, B. R., & Pyun, H.

Journal of Sports Economics

This article investigates the impact of sports games on taxi trip times near a stadium in the Bronx. The traffic outcome variable comes from data on individual taxi trips in New York City. These trip-level data contain information on pick-up and drop-off times and locations, and trip distance. We analyze over 280,000 taxi trips on weekday evenings between March and September 2019. Under the assumption that taxi trips represent traffic conditions in the city, the results indicate that travel time increases on a game day. Travelers experience 1.3% longer travel times on game days. Game-related traffic increases travel time by 6.3% for the trips that pass through the stadium area and by 17% for trips before the game starts. The local economic value of lost time from games amounts to about $2 million per year. Governments should consider these negative externalities when providing subsidies for the construction of new sports facilities.

Spatial Analyses of Crime in a Host City: Contextualizing Current Crime for Future Mega-Event Delivery in Los Angeles

Jakar, G. S., Gordon, K. O., & Avery, B.

Journal of Sport & Tourism

Winning the bid to host the Olympic Games and other large events offers host cities opportunities such as exposure, status, and tourism. However, hosting the events also includes negative externalities impacting the local community and businesses. We examine the spatial distribution of crime in Los Angeles to expand upon the existing literature and corresponding theories that examine the relationship between crime and event sport tourism, as well as offer an applicable analysis of crime that future mega-event host cities can use to identify spaces potentially vulnerable to criminal activity. Spatial analysis of the incidents’ data was based on GIS-embedded machine-learning analyses and a hot-spot statistical examination. Both analyses demonstrated a concentration of criminal incidents across different types in downtown Los Angeles and clusters of crimes in other areas of the city, some of which are near other venues that will be used in future mega-event delivery.

Crime in the Nominal City: An Examination of the Relationship between Criminal Incidents and Professional Sport Venues in Dallas, Texas

Jakar, G., & Gordon, K.

International Journal of Sport Management

This study examines local crime during competitions played by the four major professional sport teams in the nominal city of Dallas, Texas. Negative binomial regression analyses focus on count data for the entire city on a daily and hourly basis (n=48,824) between January 2015 and December 2019. Results indicate an apparent decrease in the number of incidents in Dallas when the Dallas Cowboys (NFL) play, whether home or away. In practice, this study suggests that the NFL generally, and the Cowboys specifically, may have an opportunity to engage a captive audience with messaging that promotes prosocial behaviors and denounces crime.

Optimising Intelligence Operations for International Law Enforcement: Harnessing THRIVE for National Intelligence Model Advancement

Keningale, P., Halford, E., Bullock, K., & Garland, J.

Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism

THRIVE (Threat, Harm, Risk, Investigation, Vulnerability, and Engagement) represents a decision-making framework introduced by the United Kingdom’s (UK) National Police Chiefs’ Council in 2017, with a particular focus on vulnerability. Alongside THRIVE other intelligence-led policing models, such as the National Intelligence Model (NIM), have become integral to policing practices. While THRIVE is widely adopted as a primary analysis and decision-making framework in UK police services, its examination remains limited, including its impact on the NIM and its use by intelligence personnel. Interviews with 15 police personnel from operation intelligence units within a specific English service were conducted to ascertain its level of adoption. A series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all 43 UK police services in England and Wales were then initiated to understand if the THRIVE model is adopted and, if so, where within their respective units. The findings indicate widespread acceptance and integration of THRIVE among intelligence practitioners without immediate adverse effects on the application of the NIM. The use of heuristic naturalistic decision-making processes in THRIVE assessments, suggests a need for further research. However, there is a risk of reduced decision-making capacity among frontline intelligence workers using THRIVE within the constraints of the NIM.

Crisis Management and Sports: Global Perspectives

Menaker, B. E., Sheptak, D., & Zhang, J. J. (Eds.)

Taylor & Francis

In an increasingly turbulent, insecure, and fast-changing world, this book presents case studies of crisis management that help the reader understand what best practice looks like and how to guide sport organizations through the crises that are an inevitable aspect of commercial life.

Rethinking Sport Event Security: From Risk Management to a Community-Driven Approach

Menaker, B. E., Sheptak, D., Kurland, J., & Tekin, D.

Journal of Global Sport Management

Sport venue security continues to be an integral planning component of venue and event management, often relying on a best practices approach informed by principles of risk management. That approach is too narrow. The focus on limiting liability and risk related to person and property, both physical and intellectual, tends to be reactive in nature. Additionally, research detailing sport security has shown that, in some instances, the current approach can repress spectators’ and citizens’ civil liberties, and in turn, can act as a catalyst for strengthening the police state approach to safety and security thus undermining the fan experience and sense of community that sporting events are meant to generate. After reviewing some of the shortcomings associated with the current approach, the paper shifts direction focusing on a new paradigm for sports safety and security management that makes use of theories and concepts from environmental criminology. The approach seeks to preserve enjoyment and dignity both for fans attending the game and for the surrounding community while simultaneously maximizing safety and security. How the various theories work and how they apply to the game day sporting event safety and security context are addressed. Finally, the article discusses how the new paradigm will provide a clearer understanding of potential problems that are occurring or may occur in future game day contexts and how these problems can and should be addressed to ensure a more community-centered security management approach.

Policing Universities: Exploring the Use of Body-Worn Cameras (BWCs) by Private Campus Security Officers

Menichelli, F., Bullock, K., Garland, J., & Allen, J.

Policing and Society

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are widely used across the public and private sectors, including in law enforcement, education, and transport. An extensive body of work exists on the use of BWCs by the public police and their impacts on officers and citizens’ behaviours. In contrast, literature on the use of BWCs use in private security is very limited. Even more so is research on the use of BWCs by private security on university campuses. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with campus security officers and senior management in a university in the United Kingdom (UK), this paper investigates how and why BWCs were initially introduced, how they are used, and with what outcomes. We find that the adoption of the cameras was to strengthen the professionalism and credibility of officers and their ability to collect evidence. In practice, camera use is infrequent and concentrated on specific days and times of the week. BWC footage is prominently used in the investigation of alleged violations of university regulations, and it has become a tool to hold students accountable for their behaviour in a way that was not possible before the adoption of the cameras. The study offers an important contribution to our understanding of the operation and outcomes of private security on university campuses and, more specifically, the role of BWCs in these.

Sportsmanship Attitudes as a Moderator of the Relationship between Team Identification and Spectator Aggression

Rudd, A., & Stokowski, S.

International Journal of Sport Management

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has long been concerned with the practice of sportsmanship. However, frequent displays of spectator aggression at collegiate sport events demonstrates a grave contradiction. Fans level of team identification is considered a key influence on spectator aggression. Alternatively, sport marketers have found that team identification plays a vital role in fan consumption (e.g., tickets and merchandise). In the interest of reducing aggressive fan behavior without dampening the sport managers' need for highly identified college sports fans, we sought to assess how spectator sportsmanship attitudes might serve to moderate the relationship between team identification and spectator aggression attitudes such that the relationship between team identification and attitude towards aggression would be negligible for individuals scoring high in sportsmanship attitudes. Results showed that sportsmanship attitudes were not a statistically significant moderator of the relationship between team identification and attitudes towards aggression. However, there was a large negative relationship between attitudes towards aggression and spectator sportsmanship attitudes, suggesting that fostering sportsmanship could help reduce aggressive fan behavior at college sporting events.

The Spatial Patterning of Crime on Game Days: Downtown and Suburban Stadiums

Ryan Bagwell

This presentation highlights differences in the spatial patterning of crime based on the physical location of the stadium within a city. Dr. Bagwell examines two arenas and compares the spatial crime pattern for home games to no games. He offers various insights on how the spatial concentration of crime may change based on the geographic location of the stadium.

Sportsmanship Attitudes as a Moderator of the Relationship between Team Identification and Spectator Aggression

Andy Rudd

In this presentation, Dr. Rudd discusses how fan aggression has become a problem in sports. He provides insight into the relationship that team identification has on spectator aggression and offers a non-traditional approach to reducing aggressive fan behavior.