• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, March 14, 2025

The behavior of football fans seen in the new A&E series “Stadium Lockup” is atrocious, shocking and pathetic.

Or maybe it is not so shocking to those who attend NFL games. But since I do not, the first episode that I previewed on Thursday was shocking to me.

This 10-episode, one-hour series -- premiering next Wednesday -- was filmed last season at Huntington Bank Field, home of the Cleveland Browns.

The first episode was filmed at the season opener last September, a late-afternoon game seen nationally on Fox.

The game was notable because it was Tom Brady’s first regular-season appearance in the Fox broadcast booth, although this did not figure into any of the bad behavior featured on the show.

That had more to do with the game itself, according to various security personnel seen in the episode.

The Browns lost 33-17 to the visiting Dallas Cowboys, who built a commanding lead in the first half.

Apparently, home-team fan frustration combined with alcohol is a recipe for mayhem in NFL stadiums, especially when there are fans of the visiting team sitting nearby.

The game that day was the first of 14 games the Browns would go on to lose last season. Their 3-14 win-loss record put them in a tie for the worst record in the NFL with the New York Giants and Tennessee Titans.

With that in mind, the next nine episodes of “Stadium Lockup” should have plenty of material.

Speaking of football stats, here are some numbers from the A&E press release about the effort this stadium has to make to maintain order during NFL games.

The stadium has a seating capacity of more than 65,000. One security officer notes that the arena’s 65,000+ population on Sundays makes it the ninth-largest city in Ohio, at least for the afternoon.

According to A&E, security on game day requires a force of approximately 1,000 personnel made up of Cleveland Police Department officers, private security men and women from two different security firms, and a team of medics.

The stadium maintains a command center manned by sharp-eyed security professionals who keep their eyes glued to computer monitors connected to approximately 500 CCTV cameras around the stadium. 

In the episode that I watched, the cameras caught behavior such as a man throwing a beer can from an upper deck and then falling drunkenly off the edge into the fans below (incredibly, no one was injured, not even him).

Other incidents included a woman who stole four beers from a vendor whose back was turned, and a man who repeatedly blocked an aisle near the field while haranguing everyone around him.

The cameras are one of two methods by which stadium security hears about incidents. The other way is via text messages from fans -- to a special number posted in the stadium -- who identify others sitting nearby who are violating the stadium’s rules of comportment (as shown above in a screenshot from the show) and more to the point, interfering with their enjoyment of the game.

Under the protocols of stadium security, private security personnel are sent first to defuse and de-escalate the situation. If this fails, CPD is called in. 

If the police officers’ de-escalation skills do not work, offenders are handcuffed and taken to one of four holding cells inside the stadium.

The security personnel at all levels in this stadium are very impressive. They are well-trained and highly professional.

While watching the show, I felt that every single person they confronted should have been thrown out of the stadium bodily. But more often than not, the offenders were allowed to stay and return to their seats.

Let is also be said that the miscreants on display in “Stadium Lockup” represent a tiny portion of the 65,000 ticket holders on any given Sunday.

The TV Blog has no doubt that the behavior seen on this illuminating, riveting show is not unique to Cleveland. Indeed, the security system in place in Huntington Bank Field is likely repeated throughout the NFL.

“Stadium Lockup” premieres Wednesday, March 19, at 9 p.m. Eastern on A&E.