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During the fourth quarter of Wednesday's Game 1 of the NBA Finals, a fan ran onto the court to take a selfie with Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama before security staff whisked him away.
It turned out that will be the last time that fan legally visits an NBA arena.
The league announced that it banned the fan from NBA arenas for life along with an additional fan who played a part in the interruption. It's a harsh punishment that teams have been able to use for NBA Code of Conduct violations.
But it does beg the question: How can teams actually enforce a lifetime ban?
Technology plays a major role in that.
A few years ago, The New York Times detailed how Knicks owner James Dolan deploys an entire facial recognition apparatus to identify banned fans or any critics on an exclusion list. And as that technology's use has grown, arenas have increasingly become pseudo-surveillance states.
Simply put, fans are constantly being watched and identified at arenas. And the NBA is OK with that. It told The New York Times back in 2018 that facial recognition is all in the name of security and fan safety:
So, just imagine how widely used that technology is now eight years later. You have arenas like the Intuit Dome asking fans to volunteer their biometrics for a cashless experience. You can walk into the arena without even scanning a ticket at the gates.
Since the pandemic, arenas operate on a cashless basis. So, credit card transactions are being monitored. If a banned fan tries to purchase something at a game, security personnel are flagged to that transaction.
So, could the Game 1 fan try to enter an NBA arena? Physically, yes, he could. But every NBA arena is equipped to monitor for banned fans. In all likelihood, it would be a short visit before security and police respond.
It's probably not worth the risk of a trespassing charge.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: How the NBA enforces a lifetime ban from arenas after Victor Wembanyama selfie
Continue reading...
It turned out that will be the last time that fan legally visits an NBA arena.
The league announced that it banned the fan from NBA arenas for life along with an additional fan who played a part in the interruption. It's a harsh punishment that teams have been able to use for NBA Code of Conduct violations.
But it does beg the question: How can teams actually enforce a lifetime ban?
Technology plays a major role in that.
A few years ago, The New York Times detailed how Knicks owner James Dolan deploys an entire facial recognition apparatus to identify banned fans or any critics on an exclusion list. And as that technology's use has grown, arenas have increasingly become pseudo-surveillance states.
Simply put, fans are constantly being watched and identified at arenas. And the NBA is OK with that. It told The New York Times back in 2018 that facial recognition is all in the name of security and fan safety:
So, just imagine how widely used that technology is now eight years later. You have arenas like the Intuit Dome asking fans to volunteer their biometrics for a cashless experience. You can walk into the arena without even scanning a ticket at the gates.
Other ways arenas enforce a ban
Since the pandemic, arenas operate on a cashless basis. So, credit card transactions are being monitored. If a banned fan tries to purchase something at a game, security personnel are flagged to that transaction.
So, could the Game 1 fan try to enter an NBA arena? Physically, yes, he could. But every NBA arena is equipped to monitor for banned fans. In all likelihood, it would be a short visit before security and police respond.
It's probably not worth the risk of a trespassing charge.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: How the NBA enforces a lifetime ban from arenas after Victor Wembanyama selfie
Continue reading...
