Seattle Seahawks

Paying for beer with a fingerprint gets thumbs-up at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field

October 10, 2018 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

A fan at a Seattle Seahawks game pays for concessions using his fingerprint, via the Clear system. Credit all photos: David Kapustka, MSR (click on any picture for a larger image)

Seattle football and soccer fans are giving a big thumbs-up to a new concessions system at CenturyLink Field that lets them buy a beer or other items simply by tapping their fingerprint at payment time.

Clear, the same firm that gives travelers a way to pay for access to faster security lines at airports, is now moving into sports venues with a free version of its plan to let fans enter stadiums via special “Clear” lines. In Seattle, Clear and the Seahawks and Sounders are also testing a point-of-sale system where registered Clear users can pay for concessions and be age-verified by simply tapping their finger on a special concession-stand device. Currently, the system is only in use at four concession stands at CenturyLink but Seattle network executives said there are plans to expand the offering as the seasons progress. The system was also used earlier this season at the Seattle Mariners’ home, Safeco Field.

With more than 1,500 football and soccer fans having signed up for Clear at the stadium through the first week of October, Clear and CenturyLink are now seeing an average of around 1,000 fans using Clear to enter the stadium per football game and 200-plus similar verifications at Seattle Sounders games, according to statistics provided to MSR by Chip Suttles, vice president of technology for the Seahawks. The stadium started offering the service this preseason for both the NFL and MLS events. Fans who had previously signed up for Clear either at airports or online can use that same membership to enter the stadium.

The workings of the concession system are pretty simple: Once a user signs up for Clear — which requires personal data including age and a valid credit card — the user orders food and drink at the concession stand window, then completes the transaction with a fingertip tap in a special counter device. The biometrics confirm both that a user is old enough to purchase alcohol, and has a valid credit card to bill, eliminating the need for personal eyewitness verification of I.D. and the time needed to transact via credit card or cash.

At the Seahawks’ Oct. 7 home game against the Los Angeles Rams, another 199 fans enrolled for the Clear system on-site, and 911 fans used Clear to get into the venue, according to Suttles. The Clear system was used for 239 concession transactions at the game.

Speeding up the concessions lines

Fans could sign up for Clear inside and outside CenturyLink Field.

While the numbers may seem small right now, the promise of using technology to produce much faster concessions transactions are a welcome beginning to an area of stadium operations that in many places seems stuck in the far past, with cash transactions and counter staffers who take orders, fulfill them and then take payments.

“We are always looking for new, innovative ways to enhance the fan experience,” said Suttles, who said feedback so far from Seahawks and Sounders fans has been overwhelmingly positive. David Kapustka, Seattle Bureau Chief for Mobile Sports Report, attended the Seahawks’ Sept. 23 home game against the Dallas Cowboys and did an on-site test of the Clear system, and not just for the free beer Clear was offering as a sign-up promotion.

Once signed up for the system, Kapustka reported that the concession-stand finger-scan interaction “took less than a minute,” though there was some waiting beforehand to order since the Clear payment lanes share space with regular ordering and payment lanes at the two stands where the Clear service was offered that day.

The only drawbacks Kapustka saw for the Clear operation had mainly to do with its popularity, as a long line of fans queued up before the game to sign up at a Clear kiosk, ironically causing some delay for fans getting into the stadium. Once inside, one request Kapustka heard from fans was to have more Clear-enabled lines, feedback that Clear and the network folks are probably glad to hear. (More photos from our visit below)

Like many venues, CenturyLink Field has long lines for entry security measures

The Clear sign-up kiosk outside the stadium

A long line before the game started to sign up for Clear

One of the Clear-enabled concession stands at CenturyLink Field. Note the non-existent line at the Clear lane

Another fan taps a fingertip to pay

Good promotion

There’s good Wi-Fi at CenturyLink too

Filed Under: Apps, Extreme Networks, NFL, Soccer, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: Apps, CenturyLink Field, Clear, Extreme Networks, Mobile Sports Report, NFL, Paul Kapustka, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders, Stadium Wi-Fi, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi

NFL Wi-Fi update: AT&T Stadium adds 667 APs

September 10, 2017 by Paul Kapustka 2 Comments

A row shot of the under-seat APs at AT&T Stadium. Photo: Dallas Cowboys

With today’s main NFL season schedule already underway, here is a quick update on all the NFL stadium Wi-Fi updates we know about that are either finished or still under construction for the 2017 season:

— AT&T Stadium, already the location of the biggest (by number of APs) stadium network we know of, is in the process of adding another 667 APs, a project scheduled to be finished in the next few weeks. According to John Winborn, CIO for the Dallas Cowboys Football Club, the new APs are all the Cisco 3800 two-radio models, and will be installed on the stadium’s 400-level seating area.

When done, AT&T Stadium will have 2,567 APs, with plans to add another 400 in the upcoming offseason. After that, said Winborn, AT&T Stadium will “be out of locations in the stadium to place additional APs without additional spectrum opening up.” (editor’s note: This post has been updated to correct an error in reporting that previously stated that 600 new APs had been installed.)

— In Atlanta, the fans are getting ready for the first regular-season game at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which will have nearly 1,800 APs total, many of those under the seats in the bowl.

— As previously reported in MSR, Denver’s Sports Authority Field at Mile High is in the process of ripping and replacing its former Wi-Fi network, installing 1,470 new Cisco 3800s in a project scheduled for completion by late October/early November.

— In Philadephia, Lincoln Financial Field is in the process of switching from an Extreme Networks deployment to a new one using Wi-Fi gear from Panasonic. More details on this project are promised later this fall.

— In Seattle, the Seahawks’ IT team is adding additional APs to improve coverage in the four corners of the upper seating sections of CenturyLink Field, according to Chip Suttles, vice president of technology for the Seahawks. Suttles said a full offseason tuning assessment with gear provider Extreme Networks also saw a new channel plan put in place, and “multiple Wi-Fi antenna orientations to improve coverage.”

— Detroit’s Ford Field also got a Wi-Fi (and DAS) upgrade over the past offseason, a revamp that will now allow all visitors, and not just Verizon Wireless customers, to use the stadium Wi-Fi.

— Chicago Bears fans will finally have free Wi-Fi this season, after being forced to pay for access previously.

— Following the announcement that the Arizona Cardinals were switching from CDW to Cox Business as the exclusive technology provider for the University of Phoenix Stadium, the UoP Stadium network was set for some additional APs and some network tuning ahead of the NFL season, according to Mark Feller, vice president of technology for the Cardinals.

Anyone else we miss? Send us the info… and the speedtests!

Filed Under: AT&T, Cisco, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, NFL, Seattle Seahwaks, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: AT&T, AT&T Stadium, CenturyLink Field, Cisco, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Ford Field, Lincoln Financial Field, Mobile Sports Report, NFL, Paul Kapustka, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Stadium Wi-Fi, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi

Seahawks see 4.1 TB of Wi-Fi usage for Monday Night game vs. Bills

November 15, 2016 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Seahawks fans at CenturyLink Field during Nov. 7 game. Credit: Seahawks.com

With the Seahawks starting to gain momentum for another playoff push, the Wi-Fi network at their home of CenturyLink Field is getting a good workout as well, with 4.10 terabytes of data used during Seattle’s 31-25 win over the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 7.

The Monday Night Football game, an exciting, close contest, also saw a total of 35,808 unique clients and a peak concurrent user number of 23,281 on the Extreme Networks-powered Wi-Fi network at the stadium, according to Seahawks IT officials. The game set an attendance record for CenturyLink Seahawks games, with 69,084 in the seats, breaking the old record of 69,080 from last season.

According to information from all the games so far this season (see below), the CenturyLink Field Wi-Fi has been seeing strong and growing usage, with unique numbers starting out in the high 20,000-user level and edging up each week. Upload totals also seem to be growing, with maybe the team’s improved record as the impetus.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, DAS, Extreme Networks, NFL, Seattle Seahwaks, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, Buffalo Bills, CenturyLink Field, DAS, Extreme Networks, Mobile Sports Report, Monday Night Football, NFL, Paul Kapustka, Seattle Seahawks, Stadium Wi-Fi, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi

Ookla shares Speedtest data from CenturyLink Field, other stadiums

September 12, 2016 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Ookla ad banner being flown over CenturyLink Field in Seattle. Credit: Ookla

Anyone who follows Mobile Sports Report knows that I use the Speedtest app from Ookla to measure stadium network performance whenever I visit a sporting venue. While my one-man tests do show some measure of network power, I always dreamed of harnessing the results from many fans at the same game to see a better picture of the network performance.

Well, Speedtest’s creators think along the same lines, and conducted an experiment during an Aug. 25 Seattle Seahawks preseason game at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. You can read their very thorough post and neat results here, with some interesting twists — for instance, the cellular networks are way faster than the CenturyLink Wi-Fi, according to the Ookla results.

UPDATE: Ookla responded to our email and let us know that on Aug. 25, there were 252 Speedtests at CenturyLink Field, a great sampling to draw results from. Ookla also talked about tests from 12 different events at CenturyLink Field, and said in the email that across those events it saw 1,143 tests conducted.

Ookla also published some test result totals from other stadiums as well, including Levi’s Stadium, AT&T Stadium and Bank of America Stadium, but didn’t say when those tests were recorded, or how many tests were taken.

What we really like, however, is that Ookla’s tests show what our stadium tech report surveys have been showing — that overall, in-stadium network performance is steadily improving. Over time, more data like this can help dispel the still-lingering rumor that stadium networks don’t deliver good connectivity. Now if we could only get Ookla to partner with us to do league-wide or college-comparison speedtests… anyone ready for that idea?

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, Extreme Networks, Levi's Stadium, NFL, Seattle Seahwaks, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, AT&T Stadium, Bank of America Stadium, CenturyLink Field, DAS, Extreme Networks, Levi's Stadium, Mobile Sports Report, NFL, Paul Kapustka, Seattle Seahawks, Stadium Wi-Fi, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi

University of Phoenix Stadium sees another 2 TB Wi-Fi game with big events on the horizon

December 21, 2015 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

University of Phoenix Stadium before Super Bowl XLIX. Photo: Paul Kapustka, MSR (click on any photo for a larger image)

Call it maybe a warm-up before the storm hits? The University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, racked up another 2 terabyte Wi-Fi traffic event during a recent Thursday night game, but bigger wireless days are no doubt on the near horizon.

With playoff-consideration regular season home games coming up against the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks, the beefed-up Wi-Fi and DAS at UoP is sure to get a workout, though there might be even bigger numbers chalked up during the Notre Dame-Ohio State clash at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1, 2016, and the College Football Playoff championship game, scheduled for Jan. 11. According to Mark Feller, vice president of technology for the Arizona Cardinals, the two college events will use the stadium’s expanded seating, which increases capacity from the NFL-game level of 63,500 to 75,000.

Last February during Super Bowl XLIX, the University of Phoenix Stadium (located in Glendale, Ariz.) recorded the highest single-game Wi-Fi traffic mark, a figure of 6.23 TB, while the inaugural College Football Playoff championship game at AT&T Stadium hit 4.93 TB. With the Packers coming to town Dec. 27 followed by the Seahawks on Jan. 3, it might be interesting to see how much Wi-Fi traffic is carried at UoP in the two-week-plus span.

For the Dec. 10 Thursday night game against the Minnesota Vikings (won by the Cardinals, 23-20), Feller said the Wi-Fi network recorded 28,497 unique clients, an almost 45 percent “take rate.” The peak concurrent user number that night was 25,333, Feller said, occurring just before halftime. The total bandwidth used was 2.0 TB, Feller said.

We’ll be interested to see what happens in the “15 days of bandwidth,” a series of events Feller and his crew are facing with excitement, as well as probably some pots of coffee and/or energy drinks.

“We are excited to be hosting all these games, but won’t be sleeping much,” Feller said in an email.

Filed Under: AT&T, Cisco, DAS, NCAA Football, NFL, Seattle Seahwaks, Super Bowl, Wi-Fi Tagged With: Arizona Cardinals, AT&T, Cisco, college football playoff, DAS, Green Bay Packers, Mobile Sports Report, NCAA, NFL, Paul Kapustka, Seattle Seahawks, Stadium Wi-Fi, University of Pacific Stadium, Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi for the Frozen Tundra: Extreme, Verizon bring Wi-Fi to Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field

August 28, 2015 by Paul Kapustka 1 Comment

Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, now has Wi-Fi for fans. All photos: Green Bay Packers (click on any photo for a larger image)

Lambeau Field, the Green Bay Packers’ historic home, now has full fan-facing Wi-Fi services thanks to a deployment led by the Packers, Extreme Networks and Verizon Wireless.

Much like the deployment last year at the Seattle Seahawks’ CenturyLink Field, the Lambeau network will be ready for this season’s games and will feature separate Wi-Fi SSIDs for Verizon customers and for all other subscribers, according to the Packers and Extreme. The network, which was installed earlier this year, has approximately 1,000 access points in and around the venue, many on handrail enclosures to provide service to the large bowl seating areas where there are no adjacent overhangs.

Lambeau bench seating with railing-mounted Wi-Fi APs

According to the Packers, the network was live in a “testing” mode for some pre-football season events this summer, including a Kenny Chesney concert and the Brett Favre Packers Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Wayne Wichlacz, director of IT for the Packers, said the network wasn’t advertised at those events but was still found and used by fans in attendance.

Like at other Extreme deployments, the Packers will put together a group of “Wi-Fi coaches,” network-savvy people who will roam the stands on game days to help fans connect. According to the Packers they will partner with and help train local high school children to be the “coaches,” a unique twist.

Green Bay is the second NFL franchise to announce a new network built by Extreme for the upcoming season, following the news of an Extreme network being installed at the Baltimore Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium. By our unofficial count this is the eighth NFL stadium to get an Extreme Wi-Fi deployment.

Wi-Fi APs visible on press box structure

Verizon, which does not comment publicly on its Wi-Fi deployments, has also backed Wi-Fi networks for NFL stadiums in Seattle and Detroit, as well as at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. If the Green Bay network is like Seattle’s, Verizon customers can set their devices to automatically connect to the Wi-Fi network when it is detected. There will be no extra charge for non-Verizon users at Lambeau, and again if the network works like Seattle’s there won’t be any difference in performance between Verizon and non-Verizon customers on the Wi-Fi network. Verizon also built the DAS at Lambeau, which was already operational prior to this season. It’s not known if other carriers are on the Verizon DAS or not.

The deployment at Lambeau was no doubt a special challenge, given the historic nature of the venue and the lack of overhang space for APs for much of the bowl seating. Look for a more detailed profile of the network deployment in our upcoming Stadium Tech Report next month!

Filed Under: 4G LTE, DAS, Extreme Networks, NFL, Seattle Seahwaks, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: DAS, Extreme Networks, Green Bay Packers, Mobile Sports Report, NFL, Paul Kapustka, Seattle Seahawks, Stadium Wi-Fi, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi, YinzCam