NEW YORK — The NFL will have “heightened” security measures around the Saints-Steelers game scheduled to be played Sunday in Paris amid the civil unrest and violence occurring in France, a top league executive said Tuesday.
“Our team’s been on the ground,” said Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business, international, and league events. “Our security team’s been on the ground and obviously working in close partnership with Stade de France, which is a world-class stadium, hosted world-class events. … But not just on game day.
Paris Saint-Germain played Barcelona in a Champions League match Tuesday without incident. The soccer club plays at Parc des Princes, closer to the urban core, while the NFL game will be at the Stade de France in suburban Saint-Dennis. At least seven Saints players were at the soccer game Tuesday.
“All of our events we have going on … we always have a very strong security presence, as you know, around all of those events,” O’Reilly said. “And that presence will be heightened, with local authorities making sure that there’s nothing more important from our standpoint that team security, fan security, everybody involved with this game. So extremely vigilant, as we always are. But, as I said, confident in all of those plans as we head toward Sunday.”
O’Reilly spoke at a news conference on the opening day of a two-day meeting of the NFL’s team owners at a Manhattan hotel.
“All of our plans for the Paris game this weekend are moving forward as planned,” he said. “We’re confident in our operational and security plans. Our team’s been on the ground there for about 10 days.”
The NFL has not given serious consideration to moving or postponing the game, O’Reilly said.
“We have never been close to that point,” he said.
Ref suspensions
The NFL will vigorously defend its suspensions of two game officials imposed this month for on-field incidents involving players, the league’s top football executive said Tuesday.
The NFL Referees Association said earlier this month that it would contest those suspensions. The NFLRA called the league’s suspensions of line judge Jeff Seeman for two games and referee Adrian Hill for one game “excessive and inconsistent with past precedent.”
But Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, said Tuesday: “We deal with the consequence of the grievance. We’re going to fight that to the very end. And we feel like we resolved it. It’s hey, they sat. Adrian returned back this week. Jeff’s still out. But those are: You crossed the line. So that’s really, frankly, a non-negotiable.”
Seeman was involved in a verbal exchange with Cardinals tight end Trey McBride following a fourth-quarter play during an Arizona game against the Giants at MetLife Stadium. McBride was on the sideline when Seeman was caught on camera appearing to curse at the tight end. Officials did not call a penalty on a Giants defender on the play.
It was not clear what McBride said to Seeman.
During a Dolphins-Vikings game, Hill gestured and appeared to yell at Minnesota linebacker Eric Wilson after being knocked to the ground by Wilson on a play that was whistled dead because of a penalty. Wilson was being blocked by a Miami player, and his contact with Hill appeared inadvertent.
“That’s just unacceptable,” Vincent said Tuesday.
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