Why no one should ever pay to enter the taxpayer financed Glazer Welfare Stadium – Reason number 132:
The civil liberties of 65,000 Tampa area residents will be violated Sunday.
Because we don't want to be the only ones not violating people's rights. Oh, and “it's only a matter of time” before the fear monger's wet dream – an attack against a stadium full of middle class white people – occurs.
For the first time Sunday, the 65,000 fans expected to pour into Raymond James Stadium for the Buccaneers' home opener will have to undergo pat-down searches for bombs.
Approved on Tuesday by the Tampa Sports Authority, the security measure will affect everyone entering the stadium, including players, and officials say it will be quick and painless.
......The NFL's goal is to stop "large improvised explosives" from entering the stadium.
"The intelligence community tells us it's only a matter of time before it happens in this country," said Milton Ahlerich, NFL vice president of security.
......Board members wrestled with the question of what to do if illegal drugs are found on fans during pat downs. Like weapons, drugs would be confiscated, stadium operations director Mickey Farrell said.
But no arrests could be made, sports authority attorney John Van Voris said, because the evidence collected would not have been legally obtained.
......Although the fight over the check has just begun, nearly all sports authority board members voted to implement the pat-down policy before the Buffalo Bills came to town Sunday. They said they didn't want to face criticism for being the lone NFL holdout city or - worse - watch a terrorist attack without a policy in place.
But questions remain about its legality. Becky Steele, regional director for the ACLU and a Buccaneers season ticket holder, opposed the pat-downs and cited cases in which judges have ruled "blanket searches" to be illegal.
She mentioned as an example the 1998 "Zen fest" concert in Pasco County, where the Sheriff's Office illegally searched at least 10,000 attendees.
Searches may be legal if people allow them through "implied consent," sports authority attorney Van Voris said. But the Buccaneers didn't forewarn season ticket holders that searches loomed before they bought tickets.
As part of the motion to approve pat-downs, the sports authority called upon the Bucs to give season-ticket holders a grace period during which they could get refunds if they objected to to the pat downs.
As a policy, the Bucs don't offer refunds, and as of Wednesday they had no plans to change that.
"We will not," security director Trescastro said.
Unless the team, which collects all ticket, concessions and parking revenue, changes its mind, Van Voris said, the authority, as well as the Buccaneers, could face a lawsuit by fans who claim the policy violates their constitutional rights..