Sports Fans On Smartphones
Attending a sporting event has changed considerably in recent years, with fans coming to expect high-tech stadium amenities and an interactive digital experience as well as the drama on the field or court. Vertiv makes the digital infrastructure solutions that support these technologies. Vertiv’s Gary Niederpruem took some time recently to talk about the changing fan experience and how Vertiv is enabling a best-in-class fan experience at Lower.com Field, the home of Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew. Niederpruem is chief strategy and development officer for Vertiv and an avid fan of the Crew.
Gary Drenik: What are some of the ways that sports stadium technology and innovation are helping to support fan entertainment and engagement?
Gary Niederpruem: A rich in-stadium fan experience draws fans in and keeps them coming back, especially in competitive markets where there could be multiple sporting or entertainment events competing for their time and money.
You can feel the influence of technology even before you enter the stadium. Mobile parking passes and tickets make it easier than ever to share and sell tickets and enter the venue, and facial recognition makes even scanning your phone unnecessary.
Fans also can use their phones to order and pay for concessions, buy merchandise, participate in interactive quizzes and polls, access team rosters and stats, check on your fantasy team, place a bet through a sports betting app, listen to broadcasts of the game, share the experience via social media, and connect with other fans before, during and after the event. Much of this is enabled by team or stadium apps.
Beyond the mobile element, today’s stadiums are marvels of fan-friendly technologies, especially the scoreboards and video boards placed all around the stadium. These deliver high-definition video and instant replays, real-time stats and data analytics, and entertaining animations. It’s all a far cry from the manual operation of Fenway Park’s Green Monster.
According to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, about 20% of U.S. Millennials say they like to attend sporting events (about 18% for all Adults18+ surveyed), so franchises and their stadium/arena operations teams are smart to continue to cater to that tech-savvy crowd. There is an expectation among those groups of connectivity and a technology-enhanced experience – an expectation that extends to other walks of life as well.
Prosper - Go To Sporting Events
Drenik: How is emerging technology ensuring a more frictionless fan experience?
Niederpruem: These venues are fully leveraging the proliferation of the smartphone to enable touchless entry, fast and easy ticket transfers, and mobile ordering and payment for concessions and merchandise. For experienced fans accustomed to long lines to enter the gates or buy a hot dog, it’s a whole new world.
There are two keys to making all this possible. The first is reduced latency, so all of these digital interactions are seemingly instantaneous. If scanning a ticket or completing a purchase required any sort of delay, the process would fall apart. This is happening because modern stadiums and arenas have formidable IT systems for these advanced applications – more or less mini data centers – on site.
Second, those IT systems are backed up with infrastructure suitable for any mission critical deployment. Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems and diesel generators ensure stadium technologies remain operational even in the event of a utility outage. Dedicated cooling systems protect against a thermal shutdown.
Drenik: Tell me a bit about Vertiv and how you are helping sports teams such as the Columbus Crew Major League Soccer team and other organizations usher in this new era for consumer experience?
Niederpruem: Vertiv is one of the world’s leading suppliers of critical digital infrastructure for data centers and communication networks, and we support the fan experience in several venues, including Lower.com Field, the new home of the Columbus Crew. There, Vertiv technologies enable the availability and seamless operation of the stadium’s state-of-the-art applications to enhance fan comfort, convenience, and entertainment.
The Vertiv technologies in Lower.com Field include:
- High-performance KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switches for secure, seamless, low-latency data and video manipulation across scoreboards and digital displays. These switches allow a user to access and control data, files, and applications from multiple sources from a single workspace. For the Crew, that means simplified control of all the various video and data streams in the stadium’s scoreboards and digital displays. This same Vertiv technology is used in broadcast control rooms, film editing suites, control rooms for airports and other mass transit hubs, and in other stadiums and arenas.
- UPS systems provide clean power and seamless backup power for all stadium IT systems. If there is an unplanned outage, if the stadium loses utility power, the UPS systems keep all IT systems up and running while transitioning to generators for longer-term operation.
- Thermal management systems cool the data center to ensure the reliable operation of sensitive IT equipment.
- Power distribution units (PDUs) efficiently deliver incoming power to the appropriate equipment.
- Racks throughout the stadium and in nearby external locations provide physical security.
Drenik: How are trends in other industries (such as customer experience in retail) influencing innovation in stadiums and arenas?
Niederpruem: Everything is about improving and streamlining the customer experience. In retail, that means leveraging technology to enable click lists and click-and-go transactions, smart mirrors, intelligent inventory management, and similar consumer-friendly applications to try to counter the Amazon Effect.
It’s the same story in stadiums and arenas, only instead of measuring the experience against an Amazon purchase and delivery, fans are comparing it to watching the game on television. Is the stadium giving them the same access to video replays and stats, and reliable internet and social media access to share the experience beyond those in attendance?
Consumer experiences in all walks of life set expectations that can’t be ignored in a stadium setting. Fans expect the same level of connectivity and technology access they can get in a supermarket or a mall. If they can’t get it at the game, they may choose to watch from home – or even on a mobile device. According to that same Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, 28% of Millennials and 22.4% of Gen-Z regularly watch sports on their phones.
Prosper - View Sports On Mobile Device
Drenik: How much of the state-of-the-art in-stadium fan experience is influenced by the pandemic, and is it still applicable post-pandemic?
Niederpruem: Teams are welcoming sold-out crowds back to their stadiums, but many fans remain wary of pre-pandemic practices. Touchless access, ordering and payment – considered best practices just three years ago – now are mandatory as we learn to live with Covid-19.
These same technologies can be used to control access within a stadium or arena, and they’re more secure than traditional physical tickets. Mobile tickets are difficult to copy, and they reduce the frequency of lost or stolen tickets. It’s human nature to be attentive to and protective of our smartphones, and we are less likely to forget or lose them.
These technologies were available before Covid-19, but the pandemic accelerated their adoption and cemented them as a way of life in stadiums, arenas, and other public places.
Drenik: Thanks to Vertiv’s Gary Niederpruem for taking the time to discuss the modern stadium experience and the critical role IT is playing for today’s fans.
