The NFL’s GSOC takes center stage in getting players back on the field
As the centralized place for intelligence and information, the NFL’s GSOC played a pivotal role in the League’s pandemic response, streamlining access and infection control, updating business continuity plans, and providing relevant data to enable all stakeholders to make informed decisions.
The National Football League (NFL) is centered around live games and large crowds, as well as close proximity between players, extensive travel for teams and executives, programmatic public appearances, and all varieties of in-person interactions. COVID-19 created safety and security risks that struck at the core of the League’s business model, as well as the business models of partner organizations.
So how could the NFL still have a 2020 season while keeping executives, employees and partners safe during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic? That was the central question Robert Gummer and his colleagues had to answer quickly. As Director of Intelligence Operations at the NFL in charge of the League’s Global Security Operations Center (GSOC), he’s responsible for identification and mitigation of threats to all league equities, activities and facilities, including personnel, staff, stadiums, teams and athletes. In addition to analyzing risk and mitigation, the GSOC is responsible for the travel risk protection program and emergency notification across the entire organization. The GSOC team supports every game and every event under the League’s purview.