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The claim: NFL announced policy to track ‘everyone in the stadium’ with facial recognition software
An Aug. 5 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a black-and-white image of cheering fans with green biometric maps on their faces.
“BIG BROTHER: The NFL announced this week that all 32 teams will be implementing facial recognition software to verify the identity of everyone in the stadium,” reads text in the post, which is a screenshot of a post on X, formerly Twitter.
It was shared more than 200 times in nine days. A similar version circulated widely on Instagram, and the original X post was reposted thousands of times.
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Our rating: False
The post mischaracterizes the NFL’s access policy, which only applies to people with credentials working at games and accessing the field, locker rooms and other high-security areas of the stadiums, according to published reports and a league spokesperson. It has no effect on fans or general ticket holders.
NFL’s face-scan policy applies to people with working credentials, not tickets
The NFL added a layer of security to some sections of its venues, debuting its face-scanning system during the opening week of the preseason that began Aug. 8, according to a July 25 report by Sports Business Journal.
But the claim that fans will now be subjected to face-scans is inaccurate. The new security measures apply only to those who are credentialed and working at the games, a league spokesperson said – not “everyone in the stadium,” as the post claims.
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The program is “only for individuals with working credentials – team/gameday personnel, vendors and media,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in an Aug. 4 X post, also stating that it “doesn’t apply to or affect fans.”
Credentialed personnel must submit photos of themselves in advance. Their faces are then scanned at the security checkpoints, and the images are compared, according to the Sports Business Journal report. Ticketholders face no such requirement to provide photos ahead of time.
Areas with tightened access include the playing field, locker rooms and press box. The changes are designed to prevent people from using illegitimate credentials, distributing them to people who shouldn’t have them or slipping past entry points that are poorly enforced, according to the article.
The NFL and its teams “know every single person who is being credentialed to work an NFL game, who they are, and the access levels they should have to do their job,” Billy Langenstein, the league’s senior director of security services, told SBJ. “And a big part of it is accountability for those individuals, embracing it, learning it and evaluating the safety and security of the program.”
The NFL’s program differs from the optional facial recognition systems used for years by the Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons for ticketing and concessions. While the league’s policy covering credential holders is mandatory, the systems used by those teams for their fans are voluntary, with users having to opt in.
USA TODAY reached out to several social media users who shared the claim but did not immediately receive responses.
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