ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the intensifying relationship between the National Football League (NFL) and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), combined with dominant post-9/11 narrative frames of vulnerability and security, render the NFL a uniquely militarized sport league and its annual championship game, the Super Bowl, a uniquely militarized US sport event. It discusses the legal precedence that supports Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act was set in a court case involving a US Marine soldier, but through its application to the NFL now applies to civilians. According to the regulations codified in the SAFETY Act, a Certification entitles the seller to assert the Government Contractor Defense (GCD), which "immunizes sellers" against claims arising from acts of terrorism. The chapter argues that citizen soldiers in the US are now being recruited by the DHS to participate in a public awareness campaign to report "suspicious activity" to state and local law enforcement agencies.
