The NFL has rolled out a new credentialing system for sensitive areas of its stadiums in 2024. Not everyone is fine with it.
As explained last month by Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, the league and its teams will use facial authentication software for high-security zones including the playing field, the locker room, and the press box.
In those areas, credential-holders “will have a real-time image of their face compared to a user-submitted photo already on file,” per Fischer.
The new plan will spark complaints, because new plans often do. In Las Vegas, however, the complaints are loud and pointed.
Via TMZ.com, the president of the Las Vegas-area police union will advise members to not work Raiders home games if they are required to comply.
“They’re going to take your biometric data -- your face, and they’re going to use that however they need to,” Steve Grammas of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association told union members in a recent video, via TMZ.com. “And they’re going to extend that to their NFL family partners to use your information should they need to.”
He fears that the data could land “in the hands of people who are anti-cop that support a different agenda than what law and order supports.”
Grammas has yet to activate the boycott, in part because the system has not yet been implemented for Allegiant Stadium in advance of this weekend’s preseason game between the Cowboys and Raiders. He also said that talks are occurring to resolve the issue.
Even if Grammas advises union members to not work the games, plenty of them will be inclined to do it — because it pays. The challenge becomes addressing the concerns so it doesn’t become a big issue.
Then again, the fact that it’s a story on TMZ suggests it’s perhaps too late for that.