Did You Know?

Technological advancements continue to grow at a rapid pace within critical infrastructure and their operations. Stadiums and arenas continue to extend the fan experience through technology; building smart, connected stadiums. The ability to assess and monitor these advancements is vital amongst the commercial sector, as physical and cyber threats remain prevalent in today’s landscape. The Sporting Physical and Risk Tool Assessment (SPARTA) seeks to provide a comparability risk-based assessment for entertainment venues that allows stakeholders to compare their venues with like facilities.

Opportunity

Enhancements in technology to stadiums, arenas, and entertainment facilities introduce new physical and cyber threats to employees, athletes, attendees, and the public. The best defense is proactive awareness. Risk assessments are an excellent opportunity to survey the current posture of a facility. A high-level risk assessment tool, such as SPARTA, allows for growth in methodology with an ever-evolving landscape of threats. The growing prevalence of technology in the sports and entertainment sector provides Argonne a unique opportunity to utilize assessment methodology expertise.

Solution

The Sporting Physical and Risk Tool Assessment (SPARTA) is an online assessment tool, which brings together best practices for both physical and cyber operational attributes for facilities, as well as brings awareness to areas for improvement. Threats and vulnerabilities are highlighted for current facilities, allowing for growth and progression to a stronger security posture. Areas of weaknesses and strengths are identified with general best practices. Continued development of the tool will include comparison features, to produce anonymized comparative data for like facilities.