Menu
In-Depth

Dean of sports security

Lou Marciani / NCS4

Lou Marciani never planned on finding himself among the most recognized people in the field of security for public venues.

He joined the University of Southern Mississippi in 1974 as the first full-time director of intramural sports. Over the next three decades, he served as athletic director at Division III Salisbury (Md.) University, Division II East Stroudsburg (Pa.) and Division I schools Drexel and Western Kentucky. He was also associate athletic director for external affairs at Southern Miss and executive director of the Amateur Athletic Union.

In 2004, he was named the director of the School of Human Performance at Southern Miss.

MARCIANI
“My intention was to teach and continue my higher education administrative role,” he said. “However, early in my tenure at USM, several faculty colleagues started doing research in stadium security, and they needed academic support. My sport management background was very valuable in helping them to understand all the aspects of operating different programs and venues.”

He said that their research in the areas of risk modeling and stadium evacuation simulation modeling caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In 2006, the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security was created, partly underwritten by grants from DHS. NCS4 conducts research, provides professional development training and serves as a security consultant.

Marciani recently oversaw NCS4’s agreement to provide training to Interpol to help improve the organization’s ability to police international sporting events.

The two technologies that Marciani said are changing the security world the most right now are in the sky and in the cloud.

First, he expects that drones will eventually become a valuable resource for the sports world, rather than a security liability.

In the virtual world, the ability to connect all data sources in the cloud, then analyze them (aka the “internet of things”) will improve safety and security at sport venues.

“We will be seeing more things like artificial intelligence and predictive analytics where we’re not only identifying what’s happening now, but what may happen in the future based on patterns and things that happened yesterday or today,” he said.


SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2017/11/27/In-Depth/NCS4.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2017/11/27/In-Depth/NCS4.aspx

CLOSE