Washington – A website is claiming that seven NFL football stadiums will be hit with radiological “dirty bombs” this weekend, but the government expressed doubts Wednesday about the threat.
The warning, posted Oct. 12, was part of an ongoing Internet conversation titled “New Attack on America Be Afraid.”
It mentioned National Football League stadiums in New York, Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oakland and Cleveland, where games are scheduled for this weekend.
The Denver Broncos play the Cleveland Browns on Sunday in Cleveland.
“I trust that our government would be well aware if a threat like that was going to happen,” said Champ Bailey, the Broncos’ star cornerback.
“For someone to put a threat out there like that, they’re going to take all the security measures necessary to make sure everybody’s safe in that stadium.”
Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said the NFL informed his club that the threat was not credible. He then added some gallows humor about the time Broncos quarterback John Elway received a threat while the team was playing a preseason game in North Carolina in the 1990s.
“A guy threatened to shoot John before the game, and they were going to tell John,” Shanahan said. “And John was standing next to me, and I told John I was going to move over a little bit in case the guy was a bad shot.”
In response to the dirty-bomb posting, the Browns said: “We are aware of the report and have met with the appropriate federal and local authorities. We take the safety of our fans very seriously and will remain vigilant with all of our security procedures. We would like to emphasize that our fans should continue to feel comfortable attending Cleveland Browns Stadium.”
A Homeland Security spokesman said there was no intelligence indicating such an attack was imminent. He said the alert was “out of an abundance of caution.”
The bombs, according to the posting, would be delivered to the stadiums in trucks and the explosions would be nearly simultaneous.
Denver Post staff writer Mike Kliss contributed to this report.
