Protecting the NFL/ militarizing the homeland: Citizen soldiers and urban resilience in post-9/11 America

Abstract

In this article I focus on intersections between the National Football League’s (NFL) security practices and the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) counter-terrorism agenda, including new policies and legal structures that support pre-emption, protection, and preparation activities that manage and mitigate the effects of terrorist attacks. As I will argue, the intensifying and mutually supportive relationship between the NFL and the various forces employed to keep it safe is both unique in US sports and implies the militarization of football fans in somewhat unexpected ways. I will argue that the security strategies of the US government and those of the NFL are mutually beneficial in ways that help secure the NFL’s position and profitability and, more importantly, help implement and secure consensus for the US Department of Homeland Security’s continued ‘war on terror’. Coaffee’s recent work on urban resilience in the UK (Coaffee, 2009; Coaffee and Wood, 2006) contends that in the present historical moment, ‘security is becoming more civic, urban, domestic, and personal’ (Coaffee, 2009: 9). How, if at all, does resilience play out in the context of anti-terrorism policy in post-9/11 America? How, if at all, does US professional football articulate with that policy? These are two key questions I intend to address during the course of this article.