The rise of the Smart Stadium.
The live experience, going to the game to support your local team is for many the ultimate enjoyment. In many places, supporting your local team is akin to a religion. The basic design of the modern Stadium today is little changed from the first stadiums in ancient Greece, that is a field for the athletes surrounded by seating for the audience. Throw in a big screen perhaps a roof, some food and long queues for the bathroom and that has been the experience for the past 20 years or so. As the cost of land in cities has risen stadiums have moved to the suburbs necessitating the use of private transport and the associated parking to get people to and from the game. These days with pay TV, a plethora of streaming services, large screen televisions and home cinema, many people stay home to enjoy the game. The convenience of a fridge full of your beverage of choice and your clean, no queue bathroom contribute to this trend. Throw in a couple of mates and you are all set. Add in the fact that your mobile device has the up to date stats on the game and you can see why attendance at sporting events has been declining.
Generally, attendance at finals has been strong but there has been a reduction in the number of people attending the local fixtures. The National Rugby League in Australia is a perfect example of this trend.¹ This puts stadium operators and their host cities in an unenviable situation. They need to find new ways to entice the fans out of their lounge room, coerce them to spend and at the same time keep them safe.
Now however in some cities a new model is emerging. Urban planners are designing larger mixed-use sporting precincts, with easy access to public transport and other commercial activities in a defined geographic area. With the advent of social media, the ways that a team interacts with their fans is also evolving. Fans now expect to connect with the team while at the stadium and as well as through their smartphones and other connected devices. Just meeting the network capacity challenges for a mass sporting event has placed great strain on the existing communication service providers networks. No one enjoys the experience of WiFi so congested that they can not upload Selfies or Instas and snaps at the game. An example of the network capacity required is that during Super Bowl 51 in February 2018 the record for single-day mobile data was broken, with at least 37 terabytes of data used.² It was noted that speeds slowed down immediately after a touchdown or at the halftime entertainment as fans shared their experience on social media. The trend of evolving fan interaction is necessitating changes to the concept of a stadium where it is no longer sufficient to just consider sight-lines, seat width and the price of refreshments in creating the stadium experience.
Teams need to find new ways to engage with their fans to encourage them to shape their own involvement in the sporting event. To continue to meet the fans increasing needs for interactivity the concept of the stadium needs to evolve as well. The future stadium needs to be not just a physical construct but needs to also provide many levels of connectivity for the fan. Thus the perception of the stadium needs to evolve into a platform for delivering the user experience, in other words, a smart stadium.
Technology Infrastructure.
The state of the art stadium will be a miracle of technological integration. There will be many miles of cabling, both networking and power as well as thousands of access points to allow super-fast connectivity. All the necessary physical infrastructure such as water and sewage pipes, plus sensors, along with the controlling software comprise the venue’s foundation. This foundation layer also includes data ingestion, processing and output as well as visualisation systems to consolidate game data into fan-friendly formats for display on stadium devices or the fans own device. Stadium integration solutions will need to interface with systems both internal such as bathroom maintenance and cleaning, food preparation and external. For instance car parking, mass transit facilities and nearby retail and dining. Needless to say, this level will require a significant investment by the team and the stadium owner.
Existing LTE and 4G would networks would struggle to meet demand as the Internet of Things (IoT) brings more and more devices sharing data such as car parking capacity, bathroom usage and food preparation to the smart stadium. The future smart stadium will of necessity be 5G enabled.³ Cameras and facial recognition software along with advanced AI will help to provide security as well as enhance the fan experience. For example from previous data gathered the software will know that Joe Citizen in seat 233b always has a pie and chips at half time and can provide this to him if requested. 5G wireless will also enable the use of augmented reality so that a fan can point their smartphone at a particular player and will see that player’s stats, photos and videos.⁴ The physical infrastructure of the stadium along with the associated operational software makes up the technology level of the concept of the stadium as a platform.
The Technology that Enables.
Although this strong technological foundation is of vital importance for providing fans with the service that is expected from a modern stadium the truly transformation potential for value creation lies in opening up the stadium for fans and other partners to build on top of the technology and sports infrastructure.
This level of technology includes things such as protocols, tools and data that the team and venue supply to fans, sponsors and partners to access the core technology of the stadium. Included in this level are things like application programming interfaces to allow developers to build applications and other solutions using the data provided from the stadium technology. This would include way-finding applications, parking and amenities information, ticketing etc. Such an application could guide fans to the least congested stadium entrance as well as step by step instructions to find their seat. Also here you would find audio and visual feeds that can capture fan-created content and can be integrated into social media, in-game promotions and other communications.⁵ Of vital importance would be analytical solutions and social listening that give teams and the venue immediate feedback from the fans regarding their experience of the stadium and any operational problems that may occur thus ensuring that such problems can be resolved as soon as possible. The last thing that a team and stadium owner wants are disgruntled fans tweeting the stadium’s shortcomings to their friends, thus keeping potential clients away. This level is also where the enhanced security of the smart stadium comes into play. The algorithms responsible for facial recognition by accessing the many security cameras can match faces to potential troublemakers who can then be flagged for enhanced security screening and any bans for past misbehaviour can be quietly be enforced. If children get separated from their parents, stadium security can broadcast their photos to team member’s smartphones so they are found more quickly. Parents of lost children can also interact quickly with stadium security to notify and pass on a photo of a missing child.
The Experience.
This is the level where it all comes together. This level is where the fan resides and is composed of all of the devices, apps, commercial transactions and activities that fans bring to the stadium. This activity takes place during the game as well as before the fan arrives and after they return home. By continuously striving to improve and develop this realm teams and their marketing groups can provide the fans with the best possible experience. This can include elements such as mobile apps that provide critical venue information on parking, seat location and other stadium amenities. This level is where the fan expects mobile payment options, food and beverage ordering and delivery, as well as access to team merchandise. It is here that fan loyalty can be rewarded with repeat visitors receiving special offers and unique access to team events. By providing integration with social media the stadium can make it easy for the fan to share their experience with other friends in the arena as well as with those at home. The use digital signage allows stadium operators to notify fans of advertising offers and also to offer announcements that a fresh batch of chips or pizza is ready in the concessions area thus contributing to a better fan experience and increasing revenues.
By opening up the stadium’s hardware and software infrastructure to developers, sponsors and users to build upon the resulting third-party experiences compliment what the team can deliver. The team is focused on delivering the best possible game experience to the fans. By giving developers access to the stadium infrastructure allows the team to benefit from the combined creativity of many people. These experiences can include augmented reality and virtual reality by both recreating the stadium and the games as well as overlaying the player and game data over the field whilst the game is in action. Another example of a third party application would be the creation of a system where the fans could bet on in-game events using virtual currency or bitcoin/cryptocurrency or even fiat dollars. Stadiums could also allow fans access to some stadium elements such as cameras to personalise their view of the on-field action.
As a stadium competes not only with other stadiums and events for a fans patronage, it is also competing with the allure of watching the game in the comfort of your own home. It is by building a platform with all the latest advances in consumer technology that a stadium has the ability to woo the fan out of their comfort zone. As these new technologies can be used outside of the stadium the operators need to be conscious of the changes needed to build the platform and the operational and organisational mindset changes that this entails.
Challenges.
The transformation of a stadium into a platform also consists of opening up the stadium technology to third parties, including sponsors, developers and advertisers. This change requires a major change in the stadium business model. The economics of a platform is significantly different from that of selling the stadium experience of the past. That is an event surrounded by neighbouring businesses such as retail and food concessions for the price of a ticket. The new stadium model forces the stadium owner to be more than just the operator of the venue they must become the architect and manager of the platform. This paradigm change does carry risk, however, there is also a powerful potential opportunity to create new sources of value for fans and partners. There are three main elements required to maintain and build the stadium platform.
The Development Environment.
The stadium as a platform concept is at its heart is a technology milieu, consisting of a collection of hardware, software and the necessary means to allow people to access and build on the stadium’s core infrastructure and systems. By creating application programming interfaces, software development kits and by providing support to developers, stadiums can promote the development of new experiences for the fans.
Driving Value.
The main difference between a platform and a stand-alone product can be attributed to what is known as network effects. Simply put, as more people use the platform the utility of said platform to other users increases. A single telephone is a useless device, it only becomes useful when it connects to other telephones and the more telephones connected the usefulness of the phone also increases. These benefits are known as same side or user network effects. As the number of users on a platform increases it becomes more attractive for developers to create applications that run on the platform and for advertisers to use that platform to reach their target audience. Conversely, the more applications that are written for a platform, the more attractive it becomes to users.
Administration and Guidelines.
To open a platform to third-party development is not without risks. Admitting other entities to the core infrastructure and allowing them to manipulate the data therein in order to build new experiences for the fans can be fraught with danger. The venue loses control of how the fans interact with it. It is therefore imperative that the stadium operator has in place a concrete set of rules on what data can be used. How it is used and for what purpose it is used for. There must be guidelines and policies for developers and the stadium operator must also ensure that there are commercial guidelines for the management of transactions within the stadium as well as how revenue is distributed between the stadium, its partners and the team. The stadium operator must also designate and communicate how misuse of the infrastructure will be addressed and must always ensure that these rules are enforced.
The Future.
To prepare for the future teams and stadium operators must be aware of the implications of the developing stadium as a platform concept. If contemplating a new build, they must from day one think of the technology infrastructure required to create experiences they want the fans to have. What is possible today and what may be possible by the time the build is completed as well as the future experience throughout the stadium’s life.
For existing stadiums, they can use technology refresh cycles to build elements of the stadium as a platform into their existing infrastructure. This could be upgrading the networking capability of the stadium’s communications infrastructure, installing more access points for WiFi and introducing mobile ticketing and payments. Any technical upgrade within the existing infrastructure should be considered with how the new components will integrate with other parts of the stadium. Advances in mobile and cloud technology have made it possible to upgrade components of stadium infrastructure without substantial on-premise investment. For stadiums with historical significance changing the physical footprint may be undesirable so by upgrading mobile and cloud technology offers them a way forward without changing their character.
As fans all possess a mobile device, teams and leagues that have encouraged the use of the devices during the game have already had success in adding value to the fans experience. This ready-made user base is ripe for the development of more applications. It is therefore imperative to encourage more developers to take advantage of the stadium technology. By creating software development kits and distributing them to potential developers, teams and stadium operators can create a valuable platform which encourages the generation of unique third-party experiences.
For fans and developers alike it is important to have clear guidelines on how fan-generated data is to be used. The fans must be confident that their personally generated data is not only stored securely but also used in such a way as to provide a benefit to them. Any breaches of these guidelines must be dealt with swiftly and impartially. The data generated from fans will provide insights into how the fans move through the stadium allowing the operator to make efficient use of guest service representatives to ensure that the staff are where they are needed the most. Other data that is generated will give additional insight into fan behaviour which will be of value to the team as well as partners and sponsors. The stadium operators and the team must have a clear vision for how the fan-generated data will be monetised otherwise a third party will achieve this.
Summary.
The transition from the old stadium model to the stadium as a platform is a natural progression of the increasingly connected society that we live in. Both the stadium and the fans are more connected than ever before. It is this super connectivity that lays the groundwork for creating new opportunities for fan involvement and thus opening up new revenue streams for teams and stadium operators.
This changing paradigm means that stadium infrastructure needs to be designed to allow fans and partners to create new applications from the data that is generated through the new stadium systems. Adopting this new paradigm means thinking about how the new fan experiences can be used to capture the value that is generated from the data stream to benefit both the team and the stadium operators.
1 https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/is-rugby-league-dying-the-numbers-that-should-concern-every-league-fan-20170807-gxr6uj.html By Andrew Webster Updated August 7, 2017
2 https://www.mobilesportsreport.com/2017/02/super-bowl-breaks-30-tb-wireless-mark/ February 6, 2017 by Paul Kapustka
3 https://www.nokia.com/blog/mec-5g-smart-stadiums-changing-sports-entertainment-game/ by Bryan Madden 02/02/2018
4 https://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/feature/The-connected-stadium-If-you-build-it-they-will-come By Christopher Huen March 2017
5 https://www.intel.com.au/content/www/au/en/internet-of-things/solution-briefs/iot-smart-stadiums-brief.html
Other Sources.
https://zero-in.com/sports-stadium-technology-future-live-sports/
https://worldfootballsummit.com/smart-football-stadium-populous/
https://www2.deloitte.com/.../us/...business/us-cb-the-stadium-as-a-platform-final.pdf
