5 Security Takeaways from NCS4’s Sports Fan Survey

Most sports fans love the opportunity to watch their favorite team play in person. While security and safety at the stadium might not be top of mind when they purchase their tickets for that initial game day experience, they likely will be for fans who decide to visit the venue again.

In its recurring study, 2025 Spectator Sports Safety and Security Survey, the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at the University of Southern Mississippi asked 728 people who had attended a live professional or collegiate sporting event in the past year about their fan and security experience.

“Most respondents prefer safety and security measures to be visible, with over 67 percent indicating that a strong security profile (e.g., the presence of K9s, rooftop snipers, and armed police) makes them feel safer,” the survey said. “Approximately 80 percent of participants trust the venue to have measures in place to protect them from an active shooter or vehicle ramming incident. Less than half stated that safety and security measures entering the venue negatively impacted their experience.”

Here are some top takeaways from the survey.

1. Parking Is a Problem

Many event managers and facility operators worry that security measures—especially security screening—will be disruptive to the fan experience. Yet, when surveyed on “points of difficulty when attending a sporting event,” sports fans ranked security screening ninth on the list, well below parking and wayfinding.

“Security screening (21 percent) and ticket scanning (16 percent) were not ranked highly as points of difficulty; however, 47 percent of respondents were interested in facial authentication/validation as part of venue entry,” the survey found. “When entering a sporting event, spectators prefer individual screening measures (54 percent) over multiperson screening (31 percent).”

2. Weapons Are a Major Concern

Survey participants were asked what their top safety and security concerns were when preparing to attend a sporting event. Many of them ranked weapons, followed by active shooters, as their top concerns, followed by inadequate security personnel, fan violence, theft, and entry and exit panic.

“Assault and battery, crowd crush, inadequate safety screening, and alcohol abuse closely followed,” the survey said. “The least concerning threats included chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) attacks, natural disasters, and cyberattacks.”

3. Visible Security Is a Plus

NCS4 asked survey participants to share the degree to which they support security measures and technologies. Surprisingly, participants said they “highly supported” designated entry gates, the presence of law enforcement, visible security cameras, security wand metal detection, and a venue alcohol policy.

“Bag searches and walk-through screening detection closely followed,” according to the survey. “Less favorable measures and technologies included robots employed in security roles, a no-bag policy, and social media monitoring.”

4. Bad Fan Behavior Is Common

Most participants said they had witnessed disruptive fan behavior (61 percent), and nearly half of respondents said they believe fan behavior is worse than it was in 2022 (45 percent).

5. Support for a Security Tax Is Strong

A robust, layered, security posture can be expensive, and some entities do not have the internal resources to afford security upgrades. One option would be to add a security tax to sporting event tickets to raise funds for the security operational budget. NCS4 asked survey participants about the concept and found that 80 percent would be willing to pay a ticket surcharge for security.

Megan Gates is senior editor at Security Management. Connect with her at [email protected] or on LinkedIn.