[Infowarrior] - NFL's new security policy alienates women w/purse ban

[Richard Forno]

Fans — especially women — angry about NFL's new bag policy

Published 46 minutes and 19 seconds ago Last updated 25 minutes and 19 seconds ago
David Steele Sporting News

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2013-06-14/nfl-bag-policy-complaints-purse-fanny-bag-restrictions-2013-season-security-bost

NFL fans—especially female ones—are not buying the league’s new restrictions on purses and other bags in stadiums on game days.

Not coincidentally, the NFL is asking fans to literally buy into it, by selling allowable bags bearing team logos.

Social media and the comment sections on news and team websites filled up with complaints after the league and all teams unveiled the new security policy on Thursday. Little objection has been heard about banning coolers and backpacks; the official NFL announcement cited the bombing attack on the Boston Marathon in April as one justification for the new policy.

A lot has arisen, however, over the prohibition on “purses larger than a clutch bag,” defined as “approximately the size of a hand, with or without a handle or strap.” Fanny packs are also deemed outside of the size restrictions.

The official announcement by the NFL and each individual team included this line: “For fans who wish to purchase team logo bags, they will be available.” As of Friday afternoon, NFLShop.com did not have such bags on sale.

The backlash was immediate, from fans and from women who cover the NFL.

“It’s ridiculous. I don’t understand it at all,’’ said Syreeta Hubbard, who blogs and tweets about the Baltimore Ravens and the league under the name “The NFL Chick.” Her concerns are that the NFL even deems a fanny pack too big—“It’s a standard thing I’ve been doing for the last three years, and it’s worked perfect for me”—and that it found another vein of revenue to tap.

“It’s not realistic to say I’m not going to go to the games, or that fans are going to boycott them over it,” she said, “but at the end of the day, we’re already spending a lot of money. … I just see this as greedy. They don’t need the extra money. But there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Others point out that not bringing a purse is simply impractical—and that a valuable segment of a loyal support group is being alienated for no reason.

“What the league considers an improvement to public safety, I consider a setback for all fans, particularly women,” wrote Melissa Jacobs, who runs the website TheFootballGirl.com. “Women carry purses. It is a multimillion-dollar industry—yes, because of the fashion, but mostly because of the functionality.

“By asking women to leave their purses at home—and based on the restrictions, I mean asking every woman to leave her purse at home—the league is disconnecting from a fan base they are supposedly working so hard to expand.”

Fans were no less angry about the restrictions, the extra time it likely will take to pass through security, the banning of other items such as seat cushions—and, overall, the money it potentially will cost them because they’ll have to buy in the stadium what they couldn’t bring from outside.

“So, after spending over $50 on a Ravens purse on NFL.com, I can't bring it to the stadium? Ridiculous!” said one comment on the Baltimore Ravens’ official website.

“This is OUTRAGEOUS. Where do you put your phone? Wallet? Camera? Raingear? Public safety my (expletive),” vented a fan on the Philadelphia Eagles’ site.

“You bring in hats and mittens; (you need) a place to put it. You’ve got your wallet—just Kleenex. You’re at Lambeau Field in wintertime. You need those things,” Packers fan Jeanne Wolf told WGBA-TV in Green Bay.


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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.