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 Football fans, who were subject to vehicle searches and banned from
bringing backpacks and purses into arenas, greeted new measures with
a mixture of good humor, annoyance and resignation.
"We’ve had our 9/11. They had what happened to them. We’re all one,
without question. We sympathize absolutely," Craig Corcoran of the
Bronx told Reuters, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New
York's World Trade Center.
"It’s not going to stop us from having a good time. Over there, it’s
the same way. They’re still going to go out and have their fun and
they should," Corcoran said while tailgating in the parking lot
outside of MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
While the U.S. Department of Homeland Security informed the National
Football League there were no known specific threats, Commissioner
Roger Goodell was taking no chances and ordered beefed-up security
at all venues.
"The safety of our fans, stadium personnel, and teams at all NFL
games is our priority, and security at our games is robust," the
league said in a statement.
The NFL and other North American professional sport leagues went on
high alert after one of the attacks on Friday targeted a friendly
soccer match between France and Germany where suicide bombers
apparently attempted to enter the Stade de France, in a suburb just
north of Paris.
At Baltimore's MT&T Bank Stadium, K-9 units were visible outside the
venue and inside around the concourse for the Ravens' game against
the Jacksonville Jaguars, ESPN reported.
In Green Bay, Wisconsin, gate security was tight for the Packers'
game against the Detroit Lions.
"They checked everything we had twice before they let us in," Dave
Steavpack, who has been going to games at Lambeau Field for nearly
30 years, told ESPN. "They're obviously taking no chances."
At MetLife, where the New York Giants were hosting the unbeaten,
reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots in one of Sunday's
marquee games, trucks and vans got special attention at the stadium
complex.
"We've been coming here for 17 years but this time they were
stopping all the pick-up trucks and some of the vans coming in
because of what happened in Paris," said Tony, who along with Bob
and Rocco had come in early from Connecticut to tailgate in the
stadium parking lot before the game.
"If they had the thing (cargo area) covered, they uncovered it. If
they had boxes, they had to open up the boxes. This never happened
before."
Bob noted another first. "It's the first time I saw bomb-sniffing
dogs," he said.
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"They were checking inside every one of those pots," he said about
the line of concrete planters that served as barriers ringing the
perimeter of the entry gates.
In addition to the NFL's routine metal detector screening at its
games there were multiple layers of perimeter security employed
including State troopers, who were out in full force at entry gates
and in the parking lots to provide a watchful eye.
Among special precautions was a complete ban on entering stadiums
with backpacks, satchels or purses. Fans could only carry in small,
clear plastic bags.
A moment of silence was observed at Sunday's games with the French
flag shown on video boards, and in some stadiums, including MetLife,
the French flag was also exhibited by national color guard details
during the anthem.
Paris was left reeling and the world was in shock after three
jihadist cells on Friday staged coordinated attacks at bars, a
concert hall and the soccer stadium, killing 129 people and injuring
352, including 99 who were in a serious condition.
Despite the devastating attacks, the usual pre-game party atmosphere
prevailed before the Giants' game with barbeque sizzling and
libations flowing.
"We’re a powerful nucleus, all of us together. There is nothing we
should be afraid of," Corcoran said. "All of these countries will
respond together and they will get theirs, without question.”
The National Hockey League paid tribute to the victims of the Paris
attacks on Saturday night with a moment of silence before each of
the 12 games scheduled in Canada and the United States.
At some hockey arenas, including Bell Centre in Montreal, the
largest city in the French speaking province of Quebec, "La
Marseillaise," the French national anthem, played before "The
Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada."
(Additional reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Frank
McGurty, Leslie Adler and Nick Zieminski)
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