Super Bowl on Sunday: how does security chief Ty Richmond manage the chaos?

America has just experienced its biggest and most momentous sporting event of the year – the Super Bowl. On Sunday 9 February, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles faced off at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The game attracted 65,719 fans to the stadium and set a new viewership record of 126m. The Eagles’ victory was decisive. Quarterback Jalen Hurts led the team to their second Super Bowl title and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his performance.

For a security contractor, it’s an unprecedented challenge. How can you properly vet every attendee, quell any threats as they pop up and still keep the flow and buzz of the event alive?

We wanted to answer that question, so we spoke to Ty Richmond. CEO of Allied Universal – America’s largest security contractor. Ty has been preparing for this event for months, working with law enforcement and other private security to set up an infallible plan of action. Still, no amount of planning can remove risk altogether.

Here, Ty breaks down the biggest challenges in major event security. He told us that gathering intelligence pre-event is actually more important than managing it in real-time. Ty also ran through his recruitment process – how he vets reliable personnel in the digital age – and whether terrorism or drunken disorderliness were bigger threats to the event.

Here’s the full interview:

How to manage massive crowds

CMW: You’ve said in previous interviews that crowd management is the biggest concern for security contractors. Can you break down what goes into managing these huge crowds?

Ty Richmond: Certainly. Let me give you two examples. Venues have a challenge with fan throughput – getting people into the venue quickly while ensuring proper screening protocols. There’s a fine balance between maximising throughput and maintaining security. If you don’t manage this properly, you risk compromising the screening process.

Another aspect of crowd management is handling incidents within a large crowd. In emotionally charged environments, if you don’t address disturbances – such as an unruly fan, a fight, or a crime in progress – quickly and professionally, you can put the entire crowd at risk.

The importance of intelligence gathering

CMW: How much does intelligence before the event impact security operations compared to real-time management during the event?

Ty Richmond: Intelligence is the foundation of everything. It determines resource deployment, focus areas and adjustments before the event even begins. But during the event, real-time intelligence becomes just as critical because conditions will inevitably change.

For instance, an incident may arise in one quadrant of the venue, a vendor might not be properly vetted, or a dispute among fans could escalate. The ability to make rapid decisions in response to these events is essential.

Recruiting security personnel

CMW: What is it like recruiting security personnel to host an event like the Super Bowl?

Ty Richmond: First and foremost, Allied Universal, just because of our size, scale, global reputation and positioning, has very thorough background screening processes. For certain roles and positions, skillset and experience are extremely critical.

However, because of the technology and the volume of people coming into an event, having personnel who understand screening protocols and processes is crucial. While we train people in that, it helps if they already have a background in security. These roles require familiarity with gate screening technology and magnetometers that use artificial intelligence to detect weapons and prohibited items.

We also provide proprietary training for personnel in these critical front-facing screening areas. Some of our clients have their own training that we adopt based on their venue and environment.

You have other specialised areas. You could have canines. At Allied Universal, we have a mix of all these services and capabilities. Along with that, you also have intelligence that is coming out of a global security operations centre or a command centre operation.

How security tech is changing

CMW: How has technology impacted event security over the last few years?

Ty Richmond: So there is no doubt that every year we have emerging technologies that have a significant impact on the security industry. In the events industry specifically, we’ve seen a lot of evolution of technologies. I would say September 11th probably generated a tremendous amount of focus on screening technology in general.

The evolution of AI has created all kinds of enhancements, but I would say that in general, we continue to see evolving, rapidly improving efficiencies and effectiveness enhancements with technology. The areas of identity screening are vast.

For many venues now, you’re in a database that you’ve signed up for to allow you to get into the gate efficiently, right? So they’re using all kinds of artificial intelligence to do iris scanning, facial recognition, etc. And that becomes your access identity, if you will, to get into certain areas of the stadium and to actually procure and purchase products and goods. Those are all becoming integrated to make the fan experience efficient and non-intrusive, yet secure and protective.

Managing terrorist threats

CMW: Do you believe that the threat of terrorism has increased in recent years?

Ty Richmond: Well, I think it’s a couple of things. You can go online and look at the FBI and the State Department and the agencies that are responsible for Homeland Security, and I believe that their position is exactly that – there is an increased terrorist threat for a variety of different reasons.

Why that has become more prevalent is tied up in everything that’s going on in the world – how we’ve addressed borders, how we’ve addressed processing of people coming into our country, what’s happening from a socio-economic, political standpoint globally. And yes, New Orleans, at the Sugar Bowl event – the national championship – just a couple of days before that event, we did have a terrorist incident in New Orleans. It’s obviously in the media and you can see the details around that. That was a confirmed terrorist incident.

So without a doubt, there is an elevated threat of terrorism, especially as it relates to major events.

Security planning for major events

CMW: How do you assess the risk for an event like the Super Bowl? What does the pre-event intelligence gathering look like?

Ty Richmond: So what I can tell you is that we are a partner in the security apparatus for the Super Bowl. The NFL is the primary owner, if you will – the primary facilitator of all security programmes, processes and systems for the Super Bowl. The NFL – same as FIFA, same as Coachella – they have their own internal security and asset protection operations, right?

Major corporations like Boeing, Apple, IBM, Rolls-Royce – they all have internal security organisations responsible for protecting the assets of their entities. We are an extension of that as a partner and a security service provider to them.

We also have technical expertise within Allied Universal where we provide those services and can support and augment them as needed. Many corporations come to us as a security service provider (the largest in the world) and ask us to help them with risk assessments, threat management, intelligence sources and security system designs.

The risk assessment process is a defined methodology and approach, first looking at the asset that needs protection, then the threats to that asset, followed by identifying vulnerabilities and designing security solutions to mitigate those risks.

Final thoughts

CMW: Is there anything else you’d like to highlight about event security?

Ty Richmond: The scale, magnitude and media exposure of an event like the Super Bowl make it one of the most complex security operations in the world. It requires collaboration among multiple agencies and firms, similar to events like the World Cup or Coachella. The risk profile of each event is unique and security strategies must be tailored accordingly.