NFL stadiums will soon double as disaster shelters, federal officials say

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Football League are partnering to turn stadiums across the country into emergency shelters, temporary hospitals and other venues needed during disasters.

5 min

Hurricane Katrina evacuees crowd the field at the Astrodome stadium in Houston on Sept. 9, 2005. (Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images)

By Maxine Joselow

and

Brianna Sacks

September 25, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. EDT

As Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana in 2005, more than 20,000 people sought a makeshift shelter in the Superdome, the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints.

Nearly two decades later, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Football League are partnering to turn football stadiums across the country into emergency shelters, temporary hospitals and other venues needed during disasters, according to details shared with The Washington Post. The initiative, which comes as Florida braces for a major hurricane, and floodwaters from Hurricane Francine soak Louisiana, aims to better prepare communities for catastrophic events.

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Poor preparation and other problems have plagued past attempts to turn stadiums into shelters. New Orleans officials have said the Superdome, for instance, was intended as a refuge of “last resort” and lacked enough food, water and supplies to support thousands of people.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in an interview that the new initiative will better prepare local officials so that they are not scrambling to respond to disasters as they unfold.

“The biggest difference between this and Hurricane Katrina is we’re doing this in advance,” she said. “We will know what the capabilities of each specific stadium are, and we will work with them on the threats in the cities that they’re in.”

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The stadiums would be available year round, according to FEMA director of public affairs Jaclyn Rothenberg, and the cost of operating these temporary shelters in the case of a federally declared disaster would be negotiated among local, state and federal government officials. The venues could be used for staging generators or for command-and-control centers, she added.

As climate change increases the severity of hurricanes, wildfires and floods, evacuating and sheltering thousands of people can pose major challenges for local governments, especially those with tight emergency management budgets. One of the greatest challenges is finding large spaces and hotels to house thousands of people — and then finding the funds to keep them there for weeks.

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So far, four venues have signed on: MetLife Stadium west of New York City, home of the Jets and the Giants; Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, home of the Steelers; Lumen Field in Seattle, home of the Seahawks; and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, which hosts the Buccaneers. SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Rams and Chargers play, is expected to join in coming weeks.

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