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Three women temporarily barred from Jaguars locker room after the Colts game

Nat Newell
IndyStar
Lucas Oil Stadium in Downtown Indianapolis is seen in this aerial view taken on March 16, 2015. In upper right, Kentucky Avenue passes over the White River.

UPDATE, 3:50 P.M. -- Michael A. Fox, Lucas Oil Stadium Director released the following statement:

“Regarding the incident last night outside the Jaguars locker room, the security guard acted mistakenly on his own accord and not at the direction of Lucas Oil Stadium, the Colts, or the Jaguars.  We have taken steps to assure such a misunderstanding will not happen again and apologize for the inconvenience to the reporters involved. “

PREVIOUS STORY -- Three female reporters were temporarily barred from entering the Jacksonville Jaguars locker room following the team’s game against the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday.

Graham Watson of Yahoo Sports, Joey Chandler of the Tuscaloosa News and the Tulsa World’s Katie McInerney were not allowed to enter the locker room by someone they described as an usher.

“At first we thought we had the wrong door,” Watson said. “He said, ‘I’m not sure you’re allowed back there.’”

Chandler added: “He said, ‘I’m sure you know how guys are, I’m just warning you.’”

According to Watson and Chandler, after the man stopped them, he started asking people if they were allowed in the locker room, delaying their entry for two to three minutes. Someone with the Jaguars eventually told him they were allowed in, according to the women.

“Never ever have I had someone stop me from going into a locker room I was allowed to go into,” Watson said. “I’ve covered events all over the world. I was stunned. I was angry.

“He should not be working the door of an NFL locker room.”

A Colts spokesperson said the team was investigating the matter. Watson tweeted that both the Colts and Jaguars public relations staffs apologized.

The women were at the game as part of an APSE diversity fellowship weekend. The game was part of a management exercise in which they would develop a coverage plan as if they had a staff of writers at the game.

Several of the reporters took to Twitter to chronicle the experience:

Star engagement producer Allison Carter contributed to this story. Follow Star reporter Nat Newell on Twitter: @NatJNewell.