If you personally know an NFL television announcer or prominent sports journalist, I beg you… please encourage them to read this five minute article. Its content could save countless lives and prevent a debilitating 9/11-like outcome. If that’s asking too much, then so be it.

This is all about the NFL’s dirty little secret. But as you’re about to find out, the secret ain’t so little. It’s overtly generic in nature. Therefore, with each passing slate of NFL 1 o’clock games it’s becoming more and more difficult to conceal. It’s not going away. Well… not until an unforgivable tragedy occurs.

There is an asymmetric national security concern that continually hovers over every NFL stadium. It’s something the entire NFL front office and every owner along with their staff, security and stadium management either willfully suppress or are completely unaware of. This behavior, whether deliberate or not, is not exclusive to the NFL. This blind ignorance, and in some cases arrogance, extends well into various branches of the United States government and its respective institutions (DHS, FBI, FCC, DOE). Even individual members of Congress are culpable. Again… this problem’s not going to magically disappear.

All the other issues faced by the NFL — domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, cheating scandals, homicides, animal cruelty — they all pale in comparison. The question becomes… is the NFL aware of the problem? There are 3 possible explanations:

1. Everyone affiliated with the entire NFL organization is grossly incompetent.

2. The level of myopic hubris is so overwhelming that everyone dismisses the problem because they view the NFL as completely invincible.

OR

3. They’re worried about plausible deniability and litigation of an unheralded scope and magnitude.

Let me be candid. It’s the third option. So exactly what am I referencing?

It’s called an artificially generated stampede which could easily metastasize into a DOMINIPEDE. A dominipede means multiple, simultaneous human stampedes. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, that’s understandable. Why? Because it’s a term that does not exist. Because it’s a historical event that simply hasn’t happened. Yet.

If you require an explanation as to how such an event could occur, simply delve into any of the 50+ articles on the agsaf website. Wireless carrier hacks, misuse of opt-in notification systems, bulk emergency alerts, phishing scams, coordinated robo-calls, sabotage of a reverse 9/11 platform, Stingray technology, mass texts and emails, disclosure of season ticket holder lists, the intentional saturation of social media resulting in a decentralized flow of real-time, imminently threatening information, etc. The list goes on and on. Anything designed to electronically convey an urgent sense of widespread panic. And by the way, never underestimate the power of a simple phone call.

Sports announcers are accustomed to a familiar refrain. Fans enter a stadium, take their seats, cheer and boo and eventually depart. But what if nearly everyone started scrambling for the exits? What if a scenario unfolded that defied routine expectations? If people suddenly started behaving irrationally and there was no reasonable explanation, how might the announcers react? Would they advocate a sense of calm reassurance even when they see something has gone terribly awry?

A sports announcer’s natural inclination is to report what happens on and off the field. It’s a combination of professional integrity and job performance, often ingrained in decades of experience. They relay the basics: who, what, when, where, why and how. But if they witnessed sudden, violent movement in the crowd… if they saw aggressive pushing and shoving toward the concourses and exits… if it began to resemble a human stampede… well, it’s my opinion that virtually every sports commentator would have absolutely no idea what’s taking place. They’d have no clue as to why such an unusual phenomenon is happening.

If they’ve never been briefed on the prospect of an artificially generated stampede, that would spell bewilderment and confusion. If they’ve never been briefed on the prospect of a dominipede, that would spell disaster. Any comment or observation would spread like wireless wildfire. Any words they utter could subject every in-use stadium to potential mayhem. It’s imperative they not unknowingly feed into the chaos and spook the crowds in other stadiums. Words born of confusion have tremendous live consequence.

So here’s the current state of this mess. The federal government and the NFL are purposely silent. The vast majority of fans remain in the dark. Unless the truth is disseminated through some kind of broad awareness campaign, every stadium attendee will continue to remain dangerously unaware of their surroundings.

If you’re unwilling to tell the fans about it, you need to place all your trust in the live television announcers. And just for the record, this is an atrocious strategy. Why? Because with the advent of cellular technology, everyone has become part of the same level playing field. It also implies that no one has ever been properly briefed on the notion that every NFL stadium contains 50,000+ active mobile devices capable of transmitting and receiving false information. Those odds are a long shot. Probably in the realm of 7 billion to 1 (7 billion being the population of the earth. And since I’m the only person who could remotely conceive of weaponizing a stampede, the one would naturally be me).

Let’s play devil’s advocate and try the other side of the argument. People should NOT be aware of the fact that stadium evacuation orders aren’t delivered via cell phones. That seems to be an incredibly weak position. Not to mention inherently cruel. It’s reminiscent of back in the 1950’s when the government advised children to hide under their school desks in the event of an atomic explosion. Hey, at least the government was pursuing a course of action. Nowadays, they opt for the same direction as the NFL — plausible deniability and cowardly silence.

Even with government mandated PSAs, there is no comprehensive solution to this problem. However, there is one thing that would go a long way toward improving the current situation. And that’s for someone with courage and conviction to step up to the plate. Just put it out there. Legitimate stadium emergency evacuation orders would NEVER originate from your personal cell phone. Like I said, it’s not the best plan, but it’s a good place to start. It’s certainly superior to inaction.

Just put the message out there. You needn’t go into a lengthy explanation of bomb threat conditions or emergency evacuation protocol. All you need to to do is convey a simple truth.

that if you’re in a large, confined crowd and receive an emergency evacuation order and/or panic-inducing information from your cell phone or mobile device…

it’s almost certainly a hoax designed to create an artificially generated stampede.

Legitimate stadium emergency evacuation orders would NEVER initially come from your personal mobile device. It’s just that simple. If an evacuation is deemed necessary, you use the public address system in tandem with the video screens. It’s imperative to reach everyone in a direct, unified fashion. The only reason any of this might sound the least bit controversial is because it’s untested, unexplored territory.

If you read this article and came away with the idea that what I’m proposing (laying the fate of entire stadiums in the hands of the broadcast announcers) is not a solid game plan… well, you’re absolutely correct. It’s a horrible contingency plan. Further compounding the absurdity, one individual from Wheeling, WV should not be solely responsible for what is essentially a fundamental human rights issue and matter of universal public safety.

Unfortunately, until the NFL and the federal government get their act together, it’s among the best of a series of very poor options.

Make no mistake about it. This is a civil rights issue. We’re dealing with the modern, technological equivalent of shouting “fire” in a crowded theater. It’s all about situational awareness and the right to defend oneself. Sometimes when current leadership fails the population, it’s necessary to look to the past for words of guidance and wisdom.

People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society. – Vince Lombardi

Civil rights battles are won because you fight them. – Martin Luther King

How pathetic, that in this day and age, we must rely on platitudes spoken roughly a half century ago. Feel free to share this article on any social media platform.