There are two things stadium managers are mainly concerned about: keeping attendees safe and providing fans with an enjoyable experience. Many of them have already implemented key physical security solutions, such as video cameras and access control systems. Yet, these have proven not to be enough to fully protect sports venues, especially in the post-pandemic world.
Numerous challenges threaten the security of stadiums. Primarily, arenas are known for attracting fights, robberies, and even drug dealers. In addition, sports have the potential to make people feel fanatical and, not surprisingly, emotions can get heated during a game. Further, poor crowd control, expensive costs related to security personnel, multiple blind spots, and health concerns make security an incredibly demanding task for organizers.
Despite the fact that event venues have relied on video surveillance for a long time, the data they already collect is often used for investigation purposes, only after a problem has occurred. Surely, this is a flawed approach that poses a multitude of security issues.
A recent incident at SoFi stadium has put video security systems at the forefront of needs for security and facility managers across the country. It is not just the stadium itself that needs top of the line security, but its the parking lot and the entire surrounding area as well. Investigators of the incident have already noted that “a clear forensic video that shows everything that happened" was made available to them.
The solution is relatively simple: management must utilize the gathered data entirely to enhance security and increase revenue. Merging all video, data, and audio from multiple sources, concertedly, with video analytics, is the best way to improve visitor safety and experience.
By incorporating video analytics software to their security system, stadium managers are able to:
Improve crowd control by identifying crowd bottlenecks, detecting the direction of foot traffic to prevent stampedes, and alerting in real-time health and safety executives if congestion happens.
Reduce the risk of heat-related illness when fans have to wait in long lines out in the heat. With the assistance of facial recognition, visitors can get into the arena through different entrance gates simultaneously.
Avoid ticket fraud with contactless electronic or mobile credentials. This information can be integrated to help customers find more efficient paths to go to the restroom or visit the snack bar, taking into account where they are seated.
Enhance security by preventing the entry of people with a recent history of violence into stadiums. And by monitoring the venue 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Security operators receive notifications if a suspect is identified.
Optimize processes, since it is extremely difficult to manually identify and track potential threats. This is an arduous task that can be effectively simplified with video analytics.
Make better decisions. Stadiums can easily sort through all obtained data from their video cameras and access control systems and have access to actionable insights that lead to better decisions.
Increase revenue since these real-time insights can also be strategically utilized by marketing executives to study fans' behavior, identify better placement for banners, and improve merchandising tactics.
Host healthier events by reducing the risk of spreading viruses.
Reduce security costs. Video analytics technology reduces the need for a physical security presence while offering better accuracy at detecting issues.
Integrating a unified video analytics solution with advanced video surveillance and access control systems is the most robust, and efficient method to approach safety and security in sports arenas.