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NFL, MLB, NCAA, NASCAR back bill to disable drones at stadiums
ESPN ^ | 2/20/25 | Tisha Thompson

Posted on 02/20/2025 6:12:51 PM PST by Libloather

The NFL, MLB, NCAA and NASCAR said they support a bill introduced in Congress on Thursday that would give state and local law enforcement the ability to disable drones during sporting events, which the leagues say have become an increasing threat.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) and entitled the Disabling Enemy Flight Entry and Neutralizing Suspect Equipment (DEFENSE) Act, would provide "the tools for local and state law enforcement to protect citizens," Cotton told ESPN.

"Local law enforcement already protects the perimeter of these events," he said. "We already expect them to stop a dump truck that would cause harm, so we need to also give them the tools to protect the airspace from weapons and biological threats."

Currently, only federal law enforcement on-site at events such as the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Rose Bowl and the Boston Marathon can disable unauthorized drones. Nearly all other major sporting events, including thousands of NFL and MLB games, do not have officials on-site with the legal authorization to quickly remove a drone threat.

(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; History; Local News; Sports
KEYWORDS: bill; drones; sports; stadium
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Watched a Charlotte race where they ran a cable from turn four to turn one. Great moving camera shots from there. Cable snapped. Damaged some cars. One and done.
1 posted on 02/20/2025 6:12:51 PM PST by Libloather
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To: Libloather

If one dropped on a drive or in the crowd if could be devastating. Get them out.


2 posted on 02/20/2025 6:18:41 PM PST by Equine1952
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To: All

I don’t want drones over my house either


3 posted on 02/20/2025 6:30:36 PM PST by escapefromboston (Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.)
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To: Libloather

Common sense...


4 posted on 02/20/2025 6:42:14 PM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is rabble-rising Sam Adams now that we need him? Is his name Trump, now?)
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To: Libloather

Add Airports and Fire Fighters (when battling open acres of fires).


5 posted on 02/20/2025 6:53:23 PM PST by lee martell
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To: Libloather

Wife and I were at a NCAA football playoff game last in Indianapolis and there were several drones patrolling over the crowd, they had camera and would pause just a few feet over the crowd and slowly scan for a moment then move on.


6 posted on 02/20/2025 6:58:09 PM PST by The Louiswu (You get what you vote for, good and hard.)
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To: Libloather

“Watched a Charlotte race where they ran a cable from turn four to turn one. Great moving camera shots from there. Cable snapped. Damaged some cars. One and done.”

NASCAR uses drones.


7 posted on 02/20/2025 7:02:34 PM PST by TexasGator (/1)
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To: Equine1952

I agree with you. Sure, but if it is ok for one business or property owner to exclude drones make it ok for all.

Similar to the modern view that freedom of the press is for established media organizations, rather than anybody who wants to publish.

Rights should not be crony carve-outs.


8 posted on 02/20/2025 7:15:13 PM PST by takebackaustin
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To: takebackaustin

No problem here. It should be trespassing


9 posted on 02/20/2025 7:20:17 PM PST by Equine1952
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To: escapefromboston
> I don’t want drones over my house either

What about planes, or helicopters, or satellites ?

10 posted on 02/20/2025 9:35:38 PM PST by SecondAmendment (The history of the present Federal Government is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations .)
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To: TexasGator; Chode; Salamander; Carriage Hill; SkyDancer; Lockbox; MtnClimber; Equine1952; ...
entitled the Disabling Enemy Flight Entry and Neutralizing Suspect Equipment (DEFENSE) Act,

I am wondering if they are doing this just so they could make up ANOTHER acronym.

The cable cams were used several times before the incident in Concord happened. Stepson was at that Race.

10 fans injured, NASCAR race delayed at Charlotte when TV cable falls on to race track.


11 posted on 02/20/2025 10:43:34 PM PST by mabarker1 (I(Congress- the opposite of PROGRESS!!! A fraud, a hypocrite, a liar. I'm a member of Congress!!!)
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To: Libloather

can disable unauthorized drones.
- - -

So how are they disabled?

Shotgun, laser, jam the frequency, or?

And how to disable some and not others?

Do the drones have some ID type address that can be singled out? If so can the drone pilot turn that off?


12 posted on 02/21/2025 7:20:16 AM PST by Scrambler Bob (Running Rampant, and not endorsing nonsense; My pronoun is EXIT. And I am generally full of /S)
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To: takebackaustin

What about the venue themselves? Should they not be able to fly drones while running their events?

What about a 3rd party the venue hired?

What about a contractor the 3rd party hired on behalf of the venue?

Maybe we need to require a license for ANY drone usage (expand the current 107 FAA license for ALL drone flight)?

Maybe we need to require a license just to purchase any drone?

I think this becomes a slippery slope. Once the camels nose is in the tent, it’s too late.

How about instead, we don’t allow any people into the country who have the slightest chance of wanting to harm us? How about allowing serious social, economic and cultural consequences for being an anti-social, un-American spazz?

We didn’t have these types of worries in the 40’s and 50’s (and thus enjoyed extreme freedom) because we were a homogenous monoculture with very severe repercussions for anti-social behavior.


13 posted on 02/21/2025 8:10:18 AM PST by nitzy (I don’t trust good looking country singers or fat doctors.)
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To: mabarker1

That was 2013. Why the emphasis?


14 posted on 02/21/2025 9:56:31 AM PST by TexasGator
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To: Libloather

Remember “Black Sunday”, they don’t need a blimp anymore.


15 posted on 02/21/2025 9:57:22 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: nitzy

“What about the venue themselves? Should they not be able to fly drones while running their events?

What about a 3rd party the venue hired?

What about a contractor the 3rd party hired on behalf of the venue?”

What about them?


16 posted on 02/21/2025 9:58:23 AM PST by TexasGator
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To: TexasGator

My point was...

It’s already illegal to hurt people with drones.
We already have restrictions on commercial use of drones.
They already have federal officials at these big events.
They already have the ability to take down drones they think are threats.

What more do they want to do???

Any new law is just going to be used to restrict normal American’s freedoms.

I would note that Rand Paul shut down the first iteration of these new drone laws. He usually has good instincts on preserving liberty.

Instead of responding to perceived threats by passing laws to restrict what Americans can do, how about we figure out why there are so many people in our midst that want to do normal Americans harm and deal with those people.


17 posted on 02/21/2025 10:29:21 AM PST by nitzy (I don’t trust good looking country singers or fat doctors.)
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To: Libloather
"...which the leagues say have become an increasing threat to our television revenue stream."

Fixed.

18 posted on 02/21/2025 5:53:45 PM PST by Ignatz ("Look, if I offend anybody today, I don't care." -Tom Homan)
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To: Libloather
"...would provide "the tools for local and state law enforcement to protect us from citizens watching our three-hour sports program without being forced to watch the 90 minutes of beer ads", Cotton told ESPN."
19 posted on 02/21/2025 6:03:07 PM PST by Ignatz ("Look, if I offend anybody today, I don't care." -Tom Homan)
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To: Libloather
"We already expect them to stop a dump truck that would cause harm to our bottom line by having a un-contracted film crew in the bed, so we need to also give them the tools to protect the airspace from weapons and biological threats, but not, of course, from people being injured or killed by falling disabled drones."

Fixed.

20 posted on 02/21/2025 6:13:27 PM PST by Ignatz ("Look, if I offend anybody today, I don't care." -Tom Homan)
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