FanHouse Security

Want to go to Raymond James Stadium to watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year? Be prepared to be frisked.

Pat-down searches of fans entering Tampa Bay Buccaneers' games does not constitute a violation of the Constitution – at least not in the case of a Tampa Bay Technical High School civics teacher who sued the NFL and the Tampa Sports Authority over the procedure.

Over the past two years, based on Gordon Johnston's lawsuit, three different courts have banned physical pat-down searches at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games. A federal appeals court today, however, reversed the lower courts' decisions and has determined that Johnston consented to the searches when he showed up at three Bucs' games knowing that the searches would be conducted.

The appeals court sent the case back to a Federal court in Tampa today, where the original judge, who thought the Tampa Sports Authority overstepped its bounds, will have to reconsider the Constitutionality of the case.

It's kind of sad that going to an NFL game could mean automatic consent to a pat-down. Not only would getting into the stadium a lot more inconvenient, but it makes paying customers feel like criminals. Perhaps TSA employees used to work for the RIAA.

But, y'know, it looks like a good security measure, and that's all that really matters these days, isn't it?

Previous at the FanHouse:
Buccaneers Fight for Their Right to Feel You Up

Alleged homegrown jihadis arrested more than a week ago considered the Army-Navy football game - one of college football's biggest rivalries - a possible target for attack.

Court papers said one of the arrested, in a monitored phone conversation, rued a missed opportunity to strike at the Army-Navy football game at Lincoln Financial Field, only a few miles from the site of Wednesday's meeting.

"Hopefully they decided it's too hard of a target so we're not going to try it," said Leonard Bonacci, director of event services for the Philadelphia Eagles and who helps oversee security at the stadium.

Fortunately the appropriate authorities were alerted to the plotters before they staged their eventual planned attack on a New Jersey military base. News like this is a reminder that we live in an unsafe world and hopefully authorities can continue to provide appropriate security at college football games and all sporting events to deter such horrible events from ever happening.