Star Metro - NFL and FEMA unite to use venues as disaster recovery areas

Mission Ready Venues, a public and private partnership, will designate NFL stadiums and fields to be used for public safety and community support during natural disasters and emergencies such as floods and hurricanes.

Initial venues to be designated as mission-ready venues include MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, home of the NFL New York Jets and New York Giants; Seattle's Lumen Field; Pittsburgh's Acrisure Stadium and Tampa's Raymond James Stadium.

SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, is under review.

Venues provide sustainable and centralized locations for shelter and storage during extreme weather situations. Several were used to help with vaccination programs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

- New Strategy -

"During large-scale emergencies, like the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes or tornados, we've seen how large music, sports and entertainment venues can serve as a safe space for communities," said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.

"This new strategy we're launching with the NFL is a groundbreaking opportunity to help our partners use these venues for emergency response and recovery needs while keeping communities safe and making them more resilient.

"While we're starting with the NFL, all venues across sports organizations and leagues can become assets to their communities and I encourage them to join in this collaborative effort as we grapple with the impacts of the climate crisis."

The announcement came as Hurricane Helene was roaring northward in the Gulf of Mexico with winds and heavy rain set to at least brush the western coast of Florida, including the home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"Stadiums are valuable community assets that are often used in times of disasters," NFL chief security officer Cathy Lanier said. "This designation reflects the role that many stadiums play, not only on Sundays, but especially in times of need.

"We're proud to work with FEMA and first responders at the local and state level to ensure disaster response agencies have the information and tools they need to help a community recover when disaster strikes."

Stadiums can serve as emergency shelters, staging areas, commodity distribution sites, evacuation pick up points, disaster recovery centers, mass vaccination and testing areas and temporary hospitals.

To receive an official Mission Ready Venue designation, venues must undergo a comprehensive assessment to determine what capabilities the venue can provide in emergency and disaster response and recovery efforts.

Mission Ready Venue designations are for five-year terms with an annual check-in to ensure venue readiness.

The pre-planning and preparation moves should ease the chances of a repeat of the most memorable NFL venue serving as disaster relief, the 2005 Hurricane Katrina last resort shelter at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.

The venue had been used on a short-term basis for relief efforts in 1998 and 2004 but became an overcrowded last-minute public shelter for days as almost 50,000 people held out with no electricity or water and winds-torn holes in the stadium roof.

N.Fournier--SMC