Super Bowl security net cast wide to protect game and related events

As the Super Bowl gets closer, authorities in New York and New Jersey are mounting a massive security operation to make sure game day is secure. NBC's national investigative correspondent Jeff Rossen reports.

By Jeff Rossen, Tom Winter and Avni Patel, NBC News

More than 80,000 football fans are expected to brave near-freezing temperatures to attend the New York regions first Super Bowl on Sunday, and more than 3,000 security guards, 700 cops and hundreds of high-tech gadgets will be on hand to greet them.

Similar armies of human and technological watchdogs will keep eyes and lenses trained on the tens of thousands of other people who will descend on the city to enjoy other festivities associated with America's top sports event making it the biggest and most-expensive security net in the 48-year history of the game.

The $1.6 billion Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., where the game will be played, will be the most tightly guarded venue with a 2.5 mile chain-link perimeter fence and cameras trained on every section and corridor inside. But multiple game-related events planned New York and New Jersey add several degrees of difficulty to the job of keeping fans and participants safe, security experts say.

This Super Bowl, says Ed Hartnett, former head of the New York Police Departments Intelligence Unit, truly defines the word challenge when it comes to security.

There is no intelligence indicating that terrorists have targeted the game or related events, but Hartnett says that doesnt mean that threats dont exist : I would list them in priority order being a suicide bomber, a vehicle laden with explosives and a mass shooter or mass shooters similar to the Kenyan mall, or the Mumbai incidents, he said. His concerns are echoed by law enforcement officials overseeing the game.

Extensive mass transit, bridge and tunnel networks in the vicinity are a particular area of concern, according to a review of sensitive law enforcement documents detailing the Super Bowl security plan and intelligence by NBC News. The game is being billed as the Mass Transit Super Bowl by the New Jersey Transit system, and rail officials say the security experience for fans taking the train on game day will rival that of an airport, with bag-screening, K-9 teams and random searches for trains to and from the game.

The documents also discuss an emerging threat: computer hacking. Could criminals use a cyber-attack to hit the infrastructure and control systems for the game? While not considered likely, officials recall what an accidental blackout did to last years game. Many of the key players in developing this years security plan attended the game in New Orleans and learned from the Superdome outage, which delayed the game for 34 minutes early in the third quarter.

Bebeto Matthews / AP