The National Football League (NFL) is the latest organization to adopt facial authentication technology to enhance event security, according to an announcement made this week.

All 32 NFL stadiums will begin using this technology in the upcoming season, following the league’s contract with a company specializing in facial scans to verify the identities of people entering event venues and other secure spaces.

The facial authentication platform, with investments from the Cleveland Browns’ owners, aims to “streamline and secure” entry for thousands of credentialed media, officials, staff, and guests. These individuals will be able to access restricted areas such as press boxes and locker rooms with ease, according to Jeff Boehm, the chief operating officer of Wicket, who shared the news in a LinkedIn post on Monday.

“Credential holders simply take a selfie before they come, and then Wicket verifies their identity and checks their credentials with Accredit (a credentialing platform) as they walk through security checkpoints,” Boehm added.

Wicket’s technology was initially deployed in a select number of NFL stadiums last year as part of a pilot program. Other stadiums will start implementing the technology beginning on August 8, coinciding with the pre-season kickoff.

Some teams have extended their use of the technology to scan the faces of ticket holders. The Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons, and New York Mets have all used Wicket’s facial authentication software to authenticate fans with tickets, according to Stadium Tech Report.

“Fans look at the tablet, and instantly, the tablet recognizes the fan,” said Brandon Covert, vice president of information technology for the Cleveland Browns, in a testimonial on Wicket’s website. “It’s almost a half-second stop. It’s not even a stop — more of a pause.”

“It has greatly reduced the amount of time and friction that comes with entering the stadium,” Covert added. “It’s so much faster.”

The Browns also use Wicket to verify the ages of fans purchasing alcohol at concession stands, according to Wicket’s LinkedIn page.

However, the use of facial recognition or authentication technology, especially when applied to thousands of people who are scanned while working or attending a sports event, has long been a concern for privacy advocates. There are worries about the technology being used to track people’s locations, and its potential to intensify racial and gender discrimination, as it is often less accurate in identifying people of color, women, and nonbinary individuals.

Wicket’s website claims its technology uses “facial biometrics algorithms” to authenticate individual faces in less than a second with 99.7% accuracy, even in poorly lit spaces. The company promotes its product to large venues by emphasizing its ability to speed up entry and reduce congestion.

The league-wide adoption of Wicket technology is intended to prevent the use of fraudulent credentials and enhance stadium security, according to NFL officials.

“One of the biggest things is accountability,” Billy Langenstein, senior director of security services for the NFL, told Sports Business Journal, which first reported the news.

“[The league and the teams] know every single person who is being credentialed to work an NFL game, who they are, and the access levels they should have to do their job,” Langenstein added. “And a big part of it is accountability for those individuals, embracing it, learning it, and evaluating the safety and security of the program.”

The NFL is not the only sports league deploying facial recognition technology. Soccer stadiums worldwide are rapidly adopting and deploying facial recognition to monitor fans, according to a Privacy International (PI) report published in May.

Twenty-five of the top 100 soccer stadiums in the world use the technology to enhance video surveillance, PI’s report stated. The nonprofit sent its findings to the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, which will issue a related report to the General Assembly in October.

Former President Donald Trump had the crowd jumping up and down Saturday night when he entered the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with UFC President Dana White to enjoy UFC 290.

Trump entered the room flanked by his Secret Service detail and caused a commotion in the crowd. He appeared to be a prize fighter or rock star, and there was some glad-handing with stars like actors Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg. The former president made a point of approaching Joe Rogan, who was working the broadcast as a color analyst, even though most people gravitated toward Trump.

Some speculated that Trump would soon appear on Rogan’s well-known podcast; with 11 million listeners per episode, Rogan is the top-ranked Spotify podcast. However, some predictions were more grounded in reality given Rogan’s prior comments about the nation’s 45th president.

All of which made the smiles between the two men Saturday night all the more interesting:

The well respected former president showed much respect towards Rogan, much like he does to a lot of his unwarranted critics, even after Joe’s past insults towards Trump.

Rogan called Trump a “man-baby” last year during an episode featuring comedian Tom Segura, who said on air that when former White House advisor Jared Kushner had bad news to deliver to Trump he would soften the blow by placing it between two pieces of good news.

“Of course! He’s a man baby,” Rogan interjected.

In an interview with the creator of Barstool, Dave Portnoy, Rogan agreed that Trump had been successful in upending the status quo in Washington, DC, but also quipped that he was the “king of idiots.”

“The morons had a king. There’s a lot of morons,” he opined. “And it doesn’t matter what he’s saying, like, for them, he represents them. He’s not perfect, but at least he’s real’ – like there’s that sort of thought process that he played with.”

The Daily Mail points out that Trump has never appeared on Rogan’s podcast, and Rogan has made it clear that he has no interest in improving the former president’s reputation.

“I’m not a Trump supporter in any way, shape or form,” Rogan told podcast Lex Friedman in 2022, according to the British tabloid. “I’ve had the opportunity to have him on my show more than once, I’ve said no every time. I don’t want to help him. I’m not interested in helping him.”

Longtime Trump supporter and friend, Roger Stone, who evidently remains a central figure in the former president’s orbit, was also on hand in Vegas and shared a photo of himself chatting with Trump and Gibson.

He also fulfilled a familiar role, playing the role of a Trump pit bull in attacking Rogan.

Responding to a tweet raving over Trump delivering “the alpha 5 min handshake” in greeting Rogan, Stone tweeted: “Little weasel @joerogan won’t have @realDonaldTrump on his podcast so he gets the full @realDonaldTrump treatment.”

For good measure, he added the hashtags: #short #Pussy.

Dana White was asked about the “racial tension” between Israel Adasanya & Dricus Du Pleissis during the press conference following UFC 290,

WATCH:

Reporter: “You don’t have any concern about the build up between those two?”

Dana White: “I could care less. This is the fight business. You can say whatever you wanna say. Who gives a sh*t? Why? Are people b*tching about that?… Of course they are. Too f*cking bad.”