Tracy Mapes a Sacramento resident drove to the Santa Clara and flew his drone over Levi’s stadium. He dropped a pack of leaflets that talked about a conspiracy theory surrounding the Seahawks game.  Mapes then drove across the bay with plans to do the same thing at the Oakland Raiders game.

Even though he was later arrested, the problem still remains. The stadium security was unable to stop the unauthorized drone flights.  U.S federal law prohibits local law enforcement from disabling drones even when they fly over no-fly zones.  Senior vice president of the National Football League, Joycelyn Moore explained that this loophole in the regulation can put the security of millions of people at risk.

The regulation is not only limited to local law enforcement officials but is also applicable to the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and other federal agencies.  With the new Trump administration approval for 10 drone pilot projects ranging from mosquito control to infrastructure inspection and food delivery, many people are hopeful that the experiments will yield important results that will help improve the drone regulations in America.

Major league sports teams are getting anxious as the number of commercial drone owners increases throughout the country. It has been estimated that over 1 million drones are in use in America alone and Congress is being asked to pass laws that give permission to local enforcement to take down drones when necessary.

When unauthorized drones fly over packed sports stadiums, they pose a huge security risk that many people fail to understand.  Owners of the New York Mets have even invested in research and technology that makes use of artificial intelligence with the hopes of finding and capturing these unauthorized drones.

The owners are worried about the threats that drones present while flying over a packaged stadium and don’t want to wait until something bad happens before taking action. That is why many stadiums are investing in technology that can be used to combat a drone that poses a threat to their airspace.  This new technology will be tested at Citi Field, home of the Mets, just to demonstrate how it will work especially since it’s so close to LaGuardia airport.  During the trial run, officials will work closely with the New York and New Jersey Port Authority Aviation Administration as well as local law enforcement agencies.