Protect Our House: “Smart Security” and the 2019 Super Bowl

• In Event: Science, Technology and Sport - I: Sporting Technologies and Narratives

Abstract

The Super Bowl is among the most technologically fortified entertainment spaces in the United States thanks to its designation as a “national security special event” and a supportive surveillance apparatus that includes the NFL, local police agencies, the US Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and corporate partners (Schimmel, 2012). This paper conceives of the 2019 Super Bowl in Atlanta as a material-semiotic space ripe with embodied practices, technologies, and the proliferation of narratives. Close analysis of media storylines prior to the event reveal organizers faced numerous “crises”—including delayed preparations, traffic problems, a polar vortex, and a government shutdown— the sum of which seemingly served as catalysts in proving the organizers’ preparedness. An operations hub staffed by over 65 law enforcement agencies and first responders further emphasized the technological complexity of the surveillance apparatus in ways similar to the dominant discourses touting the sophistication of “smart cities.” In this paper, we discuss key narratives while introducing some of surveillance technologies used to seemingly secure the spaces adjacent to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. We conclude the paper by briefly outlining the consequences of this “smart security” on Atlanta’s homeless, poor and most vulnerable populations during the spectacle of Super Bowl 53.

Authors

• Mary McDonald, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Sarah Barnes, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Nassim Parvin, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Renee Shelby, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Pragati Singh, Georgia Institution of Technology