NFL Pat Downs to Increase
NFL to ramp up security at stadiums in wake of stun gun attack during Jets-Cowboys game
BY Larry Mcshane
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, September 16th 2011, 12:42 PM
Fans can expect more contact this weekend at NFL stadiums – on their way inside the stadium.
The league’s 32 teams will greet boosters this Sunday by boosting security, with fans subjected to a more hands-on patdown policy, Reuters reported.
The NFL now wants all fans patted from the ankles up, rather than from the waist up – a decision likely to create longer lines to get inside the stadiums.
“We encourage fans to come early, enjoy their tailgating and be patient as they enter the stadium,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the wire service.
The waist-up patdown policy went into effect in 2005. McCarthy said the new approach is likely to take some getting used to by the hundreds of thousands of Sunday attendees.
The NFL’s official confirmation of the fuller body search comes in the aftermath of a fan zapping three people with a taser-like device at last Sunday’s Jets-Cowboys game in MetLife Stadium.