When the American National Football League (NFL) rolled into London, Integrated Security Consultants (ISC) provided complete security services to the NFL for its high profile UK visit. In addition ISC provided security for associated events such as the Economist high profile sports conference, The Global Sport Summit 2010, and the prestigious “Gold Rush” cheerleading squad of this year’s home team, the San Francisco 49ers.
As part of a successful on-going relationship with NFL, ISC was once again appointed to look after this year’s visiting NFL teams; the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers, from the moment they touched down on UK soil this winter.
For the entirety of the visit, culminating in the much anticipated international game at Wembley Stadium, ISC provided a number of services to the NFL including specialist crowd management and operational consultancy. ISC worked closely with the event organisers, police and local authorities to prepare for the first main event, the opening Tailgate Party, situated on the Stadium site. The prestigious event traditionally marks the beginning of the game day festivities and provides an opportunity for the NFL to set an electric atmosphere ahead of the main game.
The NFL’s decision to open this year’s Tailgate Party to all 90,000 game ticket holders contributed to the event turning out to be one of the busiest yet. Footfall figures showed that a total of more than 40,000 people passed through the event in less than five hours, with no less than 30,000 people constantly in attendance at any given time. ISC deployed over 250 security and stewarding staff alone for the Tailgate Party, excluding other critical staff. ISC also provided security for the main game itself.
In conjunction with the NFL’s annual International Series game at Wembley Stadium, the prestigious “Gold Rush” cheerleading squad of this year’s home team, the San Francisco 49ers, flew to the UK ahead of the main game to set the atmosphere and kick start festivities. ISC was selected to provide all security and close protection needs.
As well as performing at the International Series game itself, the cheerleaders’ visit included a hectic schedule of promotional appearances, interviews and signings at numerous locations across London.
“The current security state in London coupled with the sheer number of locations and movement of the squad presented a potential security nightmare,” explained CP Supervisor, for ISC, Tony Wright. “Thorough forward planning and carefully pre-planned procedures meant we were well prepared for any situation that could potentially arise.”
The same week, ISC successfully managed security for The Economist’s Global Sport Summit 2010, where leading influential figures in the world of sport gathered for the prestigious event, which took place at London’s Grosvenor House hotel.
Security was a critical contributing factor towards the conference’s success. Attendees this year included representatives of Arsenal Football Club, the International Olympic Committee, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, The Football Association, ITV and The London Marathon.
ISC’s Managing Director, Pat Carr, said: “Were extremely proud to have once again been an integral part of the delivery of such amazing events. All too often so many festivals and sporting events suffer as a consequence of not having the correct resources and poor planning, so we are proud to have proved to the NFL that we are capable of delivering exactly what we have delivered on our promises, for our fourth consecutive year.”