Unusual combination: Taylor Swift, Super Bowl andrones!
We’re now officially in
the post-Super Bowl hang-
over period. The big game
is over, all the new TV com-
mercials were aired, and
many of us got to see one-
too-many close-up shots
of Taylor Swift cheering on
boyfriend Travis Kelce and
the Kansas City Chiefs on
Sunday.
of the game couldn’t do
so anyway. However, that
doesn’t mean a Swiftie
might not have tried to
take a drone video of the
music superstar outside the
stadium.
always taboo to those as-
sociated with pro leagues.
Drones
Drones
After the TFR expired
an hour after the Super
Bowl on Sunday night, the
City of Newport Beach,
California, sponsored a
1,000-drone light show for
people leaving the game. It
had a theme, “Touch Down
in Newport Beach,” and
the drones created a QR
code in the sky, prompting
viewers to scan it and win a
chance for a luxury vaca-
tion package to Newport
Beach.
Third, the NFL (and
many professional sports
leagues) asked the FAA to
post a Temporary Flight
Restriction (TFR) over
stadiums. The TFR for
the NFL begins one hour
before and ends one hour
after a game. Anyone
caught violating a TFR
faces multiple potential
local and federal charges.
For the Super Bowl, the
NFL received a TFR for the
entire week, not just a few
hours before kickoff.
You probably didn’t see
how the NFL and Las Ve-
gas authorities dealt with
drones before, during and
after Super Bowl LVIII.
This regular “Age
of Drones” column
received a Colorado
FAA-Certified
Press Association
“Better Newspaper
Award” in September.
Part 107
Drone Pilot
Here are a few things
the average person might
not know: Las Vegas, like
Washington, D.C., has
some of the most restric-
tive drone-flying regula-
tions in the country. With
all the lights, high-rise casi-
nos and an airport near the
south end of the Las Vegas
Strip, it’s tough to obtain
advance FAA permission
to fly in the area, mainly
because of the abundance
of available helicopter
tours there. In fact, Las
Vegas uses sophisticated
drone-detection equipment
near the Strip to alert law
enforcement of potential
violations by those who fly
drones.
One of the unusual
aspects of Sunday’s Super
Bowl was the sports bet-
tors, who were throwing
down money to guess what
shade of red lipstick Taylor
Swift would wear to the
big game. Maybe those
sport-apps operators also
should’ve offered a wager
on how many drones would
be caught by law enforce-
ment around the stadium
before the game on Sun-
day.
game, just as my song says,
“Shake it Off!”
imposed new drone regula-
tions without considering
the people who actually fly
them professionally. The
ban prohibits using federal
funds to pay for drones
made in certain foreign
countries, especially China.
* * *
According to the FAA
and NFL, more than 4,000
illegal drone flights around
stadiums occurred in 2023,
a 20 percent increase over
the previous year.
Drone experts say safety
is crucial in places where
tens of thousands of people
gather together for an
event. Should a drone en-
counter a problem with its
battery, propellors or other
systems, it could plummet
from the sky and poten-
tially harm or kill people.
Last fall, Fox Sports used
small drones (with permis-
sion) as part of its coverage
of the World Series. The
NFL hires drone operators
to film practices or parts of
documentaries. So do some
other pro sports organiza-
tions around the globe. In
other words, drones aren’t
Here’s where the story hit
home for me since then. In
nearby Boulder, the police
department has a 10-per-
son drone response team.
The officers have a fleet of
eight drones, ranging in
price from about $1,500
to more than $10,000. All
happen to be DJI-brand
drones from China, now
on the blackballed foreign
manufacturers’ list.
Just over two weeks ago,
the NFL AFC champion-
ship game in Baltimore
was halted because a mini
drone was spotted fly-
ing over the stadium. The
owner was a Pennsylvania
guy who bought the drone
the day before the game
and told authorities he
didn’t know he couldn’t
operate it over the packed
stadium. The 44-year-old
man wasn’t a Part 107-cer-
tified pilot, nor was his
drone registered with the
FAA.
My suggestion: The NFL
and FAA should ask Tay-
lor Swift to hold a small
drone for a TV commercial
so she can say, “A friendly
reminder… you can’t
fly a drone near an NFL
game! It’s against the law
and disrupts the players,
coaches, and fans like me.
So, if your head is thinking
about flying a drone near a
Second, Allegiant Sta-
dium, host of the Super
Bowl and home of the Las
Vegas Raiders, is a domed
stadium, so any drone flyer
hoping to shoot footage
Should any of these
drones need to be replaced
– due to age or an acci-
dent – the new laws would
prohibit the city from
purchasing new DJI mod-
els using federal funds. As I
said last week, without any
major U.S. manufactur-
ers creating drones, places
like Boulder will be left
empty-handed if they want
new DJI drones, which are
world-class, easy to operate
and priced reasonably.
If convicted, the man
faces a maximum of three
years in federal prison
and up to another year for
willfully violating United
States National Defense
Airspace in the area.
