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Tisha Thompson
The NFL, MLB, NCAA and NASCAR said they support a bill introduced in Congress Thursday that would give state and local law enforcement the ability to disable drones during sporting events, which the leagues say have become an increasing threat.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) and entitled the Disabling Enemy Flight Entry and Neutralizing Suspect Equipment (DEFENSE) Act, would provide “the tools for local and state law enforcement to protect citizens,” Cotton told ESPN.
“Local law enforcement already protects the perimeter of these events,” he said. “We already expect them to stop a dump truck that would cause harm, so we need to also give them the tools to protect the airspace from weapons and biological threats.”
Currently, only federal law enforcement on-site at events like the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Rose Bowl and the Boston Marathon can disable unauthorized drones. Nearly all other major sporting events, including thousands of NFL and MLB games, do not have officials on-site with the legal authorization to quickly remove a drone threat.
Cotton said federal agents represent “a small fraction of law enforcement” and that there are “not enough” to man large-scale sporting events on-site. “They need these local and state authorities to protect the restricted airspace,” he said.
“If enacted, this legislation would dramatically increase the security of our stadiums and the safety of the 70,000,000 fans who attend our games annually,” MLB’s senior vice president of security and ballpark operations David Thomas said in a statement.
The NFL said that in the 2023 season alone, it experienced more than 2,800 drone incursions into the temporary restricted airspace around its stadiums, which the FAA defines as below 3,000 feet and within three nautical miles of the stadium from one hour before until one hour after the game.
The NFL paused the AFC Championship Game in January 2024 between the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs after a drone entered the stadium’s restricted airspace. The drone operator pleaded guilty to violating national defense airspace. More recently, on Jan. 11, a wild card game between the Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers was temporarily suspended when a drone flew over the bowl of M&T Bank Stadium. That alleged drone operator is facing multiple federal charges.
“Many drones around large athletic events are hobbyists or enthusiasts or practical jokers,” Cotton said. “But we can’t take the risk of fan lives because some of these drones can be equipped to carry explosives or most chillingly can be equipped with some kind of biological weapon.”
The new bill would only apply to sporting events that already have temporary flight restrictions, including stadiums and ballparks with more than 30,000 people and outdoor gatherings with more than 100,000 people. That would include all NFL, MLB and NCAA Division I football games, NASCAR, IndyCar and Champ Series races.
NFL chief security officer Cathy Lanier told Congress in December that intelligence agencies continue to warn that terrorist groups could target stadiums and other mass gatherings.
“Earlier this year, Islamic State propaganda specifically encouraged attacks on stadiums, including referencing the Paris Summer Olympics,” Lanier testified. “Social media posts recently threatened drone attacks at the Cricket World Cup on Long Island.”
The bill would require eligible law enforcement officers to complete counter-drone training and mandate federal agencies to create a list of approved drone mitigation technology.
Drones can be disabled a number of ways, according to Michael Robbins, president and CEO of the Association of Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, a trade association that represents the drone industry. “The most effective way, the way that is used in most cases, is to find the operator and ask, or demand, that the operator land the drone.”
If not, law enforcement can jam a drone’s radio frequency, grab it with a net, ram it with another drone or shoot it out of the sky, Robbins said. Most commercially available drones are programmed to land or return to their point of origin if they lose their link to the operator.
While it’s not yet clear what opposition this bill will face, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) blocked a bill last year that would have provided state and local law enforcement the ability to track drones after several sightings alarmed residents in New Jersey and New York.
In a speech on the Senate floor in December, Paul said, “History has shown us time and time again how fear and manufactured urgency are used as pretext to expand government power at the expense of freedom.” He expressed concerns about surveillance powers potentially violating Americans’ privacy rights “in the name of security.”
The leagues have been lobbying Congress for a number of years to expand law enforcement’s ability to disable drones.
“For several years, the NCAA has expressed concern for the threat that unauthorized drones pose at NCAA championships and college sporting events,” said Tim Buckley, the NCAA’s senior vice president of external affairs, in a statement to ESPN. “The safety of the competitors, fans, and staff that work at NCAA events is our top priority.”
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