NFL 'Vigilant' on Security but Confident France Game Will Go Ahead as Planned
The National Football League is preparing to stage a regular-season game in France for the first time. But with civil unrest and protests near Paris making headlines in the week before the game, questions have been raised about security.
On Tuesday the league reiterated that all plans for playing its inaugural regular-season game in France remain on track, and that it is confident in its operational and security plans despite the unrest.
The game is scheduled to be played in Paris this Sunday, between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints. Both teams are still set to travel as planned.
NFL executive vice president for Club Business and International Peter O'Reilly said on Tuesday: 'We're obviously being very vigilant in everything we do and all of our planning on an hour-by-hour basis, working closely with our two teams.'
'We've got confidence in the plans both from an ops and security standpoint,' he added.
O'Reilly acknowledged that the NFL has contingency plans for every game, including moving it to another location or postponing it. However, he said discussions about those options for this particular game are nowhere near a critical stage.
'We have never been close to that point,' he said. 'As you know, we've always got contingency plans for every game, every single one of them. But no, we were not at that point at any point in the conversation.'
Over the past week France has seen nationwide protests against the high cost of living. Photographs of the wreckages of burnt-down vehicles in the streets of Paris on October 18 have added to organisers' concerns.
The question has been asked how a gathering of roughly 81,000 fans, two full teams, politicians and others can be safe when cars have been burned and stores looted less than 20 miles away in central Paris.
In response, O'Reilly said the league's team and security team have been on the ground, working in close partnership with the Stade de France, which he described as a world-class stadium that has hosted world-class events, most recently the Olympic Games.
He said that not just on game day but at all the events around the game there is always a very strong security presence, and that this presence will be heightened with local authorities, stressing that nothing is more important to the league than the security of the teams, the fans and everybody involved with the game.
Overall, despite the reports of unrest, the NFL remains firm that Sunday's game will go ahead as scheduled. In the league's words, it is extremely vigilant as it heads towards Sunday.
