The Federal Emergency Management Agency is partnering with the NFL to prepare stadiums to be used as emergency shelters that could house people displaced by disasters.
The NFL approached FEMA with the idea, which is reminiscent of how the Superdome was used after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. But while a lack of advance planning left the Superdome short on food, water and supplies, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell is hoping that preparing NFL stadiums in advance will allow them to serve as safe havens in emergencies.
“The biggest difference between this and Hurricane Katrina is we’re doing this in advance,” Criswell told the Washington Post. “We will know what the capabilities of each specific stadium are, and we will work with them on the threats in the cities that they’re in.”
Criswell said stadiums functioned as temporary hospitals and vaccination sites during the worst of the covid pandemic, and they could become a valuable part of communities’ responses to future emergencies.
“It just made perfect sense,” said Criswell. “We have all of these existing venues. How do we better coordinate during these blue sky days to better understand what they bring to the table and what we can use them for in the future?”
New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium, Seattle’s Lumen Field and Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium have already been identified as stadiums that FEMA will be ready to turn to in case of emergency, and FEMA expects to have other stadiums on board soon.
