The Falcons and IBM announced a deal Thursday aimed at using technology to improve the fan experience when the team moves into its new stadium in 2017.
IBM will provide the Wi-Fi network infrastructure and an array of other technology needs for the downtown stadium.
“We’re challenging ourselves … to challenge the status quo,” said Karl Sandreuter, IBM’s senior executive for Georgia.
Falcons and IBM officials said technology can come into play in a wide range of ways for fans attending NFL games and other events, starting with predictive analytics that suggest routes through traffic to the stadium and continuing with in-game video highlights delivered to mobile phones.
But the overarching requirement, which has been a challenge for large sports venues, is installing a network that can accommodate the cellular and Wi-Fi demands of 70,000 fans simultaneously.
“We’re on our (mobile) devices 24/7,” said Mike Gomes, senior vice president of fan experience for Falcons parent company AMB Sports & Entertainment, “so making sure you can provide a network that can satisfy what seemingly is the insatiable demand of consumers these days for bandwidth is an absolute minimum.”
Another requirement is that the stadium be adaptable to rapid changes in technology and consumer demands.
“No one can really predict the future,” Sandreuter said, “but our investments in (research and development) are looking to future-proof this experience as we look well beyond 2017.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Falcons have not publicly broken out what portion of the $1.4 billion budget to build the stadium will go toward technology.
IBM has partnered with a number of major sporting events over the years, including the Masters, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open golf and tennis championships.
Another way IBM’s technology might be used in the new stadium is to deliver information to fans on the shortest nearby concessions-stand line, for example.
But Gomes isn’t a big fan of that application.
“I feel that addresses the symptom and not the disease,” he said. “(Fans” desire) is not to know where the shortest beer line is; they don’t want to wait in a beer line. They don’t want to know where the shortest bathroom line is; they don’t want to wait for the bathroom. Our challenge will be to continue to try to correct those core negatives.”
In addition to Falcons games, the retractable-roof stadium — under construction next to the Georgia Dome — will be home to a Major League Soccer expansion team and will host various marquee events, including college basketball’s 2020 Final Four.
