Nationwide processing outage affects venue payment systems at Petco Park, Allegiant Stadium

Normally event attendees have no idea of what goes on in the background of a stadium’s payment-processing business, but when systems go down like they did Saturday night, it’s not a pleasant outcome for anyone involved.

Details are still being sorted out but apparently a system outage at a company called TSYS, which calls itself “a leading global provider of seamless, secure and innovative solutions to payment card issuers,” caused concessions systems to become inoperable at some U.S. venues Saturday night, including the San Diego Padres’ Petco Park and Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Shift4 Payments, which processes payments at many businesses in Las Vegas, including Allegiant Stadium, also tweeted that they were aware of the problem, which they said was with TSYS and not with Shift4’s systems. Allegiant Stadium was hosting the WWE SummerSlam wrestling show Saturday night, and according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal the cashless concessions systems were not operable, causing large lines to form and that some concessions stands were just handing out prepared food and non-alcoholic beverages.

READ MORE AT STADIUM TECH REPORT!

Introducing: The Stadium Connectivity Outlook survey!

To all stadium, arena, ballpark, race track, concert-hall, convention-center, airport, casino and other large public venue owners, operators and administrators and deployers of connectivity technology: We need you!

That is, we need you to take our Stadium Connectivity Outlook survey, a vehicle designed to find out “where we’re at, and where we’re going” when it comes to connectivity technology and the business operations it supports in large public venues of all shapes and sizes.

Want this cool hat? Take the survey!

And while being in the cooperative spirit is its own reward, we will also be sending every respondent a new, cool, Stadium Tech Report hat, which you can’t buy in stores! So take the survey now!

For an industry known for its collaborative spirit, Stadium Tech Report wants to empower that knowledge-sharing by compiling a wide range of observations, thoughts and actual deployment facts into a single, powerful set of conclusions that will serve to inform and guide the market as a whole, as well as individual connectivity plans and strategies for venues of all sizes and locations.

Along with stadiums of all types, that also includes other large public venues like convention centers, airports and other businesses that have the same scale and size issues when it comes to connectivity. We’ve put together what we think is an interesting compilation of questions that will provoke thought and provide deep insights that this market has really never seen before. We’re pretty excited about the possibilities for this survey.

But we can’t do it without you.

Real information and insight informs real strategies

What makes a survey like this different from ivory-tower analyst-type projections is the insights shared by people like yourself, people actively involved in the operation and administration of connectivity at public venues of all shapes and sizes. Unlike our past surveys (which focused on things like numbers of antennas deployed) the Stadium Connectivity Outlook survey goes far deeper, asking questions about how venues prioritize spending to address certain operational pain points; how they feel about their progress along the innovation path; and what types of business opportunities venues might want to address with cutting-edge technologies like 5G cellular, Wi-Fi 6 and multi-access edge computing (MEC).

So it’s not a simple yes/no questionnaire. To gain real value, we need to ask some complex questions, which will require some dedication and time to answer fully. While response times may differ, we estimate it will take most respondents between 10 and 15 minutes to complete the survey. While we realize all of you are busy and that taking surveys is not at the top of anyone’s to-do list, we do ask you to consider the value of the results if everyone we reach out to replies; it will be a veritible cornucopia of insights and information which will benefit one and all who are involved.

And did we mention the cool hat?

Seriously, you can look at it as your individual contribution to the entity known as Stadium Tech Report, which we may remind you, charges nothing to our audience for the information we share and distribute. Just as we rely on the time and kindness of venues for the access and information that powers our stadium technology deployment profiles, so are we asking all of you to make a similar kind of contribution, sharing your information so that everyone — all our readers — can learn and profit from each others’ experiences.

So please — for yourself, for your colleagues, for your industry — and also for the hat — please take our Stadium Connectivity Outlook survey today!

New report: Coors Field gets Wi-Fi 6 upgrade ahead of All-Star Game

Stadium Tech Report is pleased to announce our Summer 2021 issue, which includes an in-depth profile of the new Wi-Fi 6 network upgrade at the Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field, which will host the Major League Baseball All-Star Game this July. Planned ahead of the pandemic, the Coors Field network upgrade includes new equipment from Cisco and some innovative design and deployment tactics from integrator AmpThink, the Colorado Rockies and MLB. With a full house expected for the July 12-13 events, Coors Field is ready to go from a Wi-Fi connectivity standpoint, including coverage at the new McGregor Square area adjacent to the ballpark.

We also have a profile of a new esports facility deployment at the University of Arizona, done by a new firm called 1337 Facilities, which is led by stadium technology veteran Bob Jordan. One more story looks into the possibilities presented by smart poles, which can bring connectivity and other technology features to parking lots. Take a read and tell us what you think!

If you are reading on a desktop or tablet, you can view all the stories in our web magazine format.

We’d like to take a quick moment to thank our sponsors, which for this issue include Corning, Boingo, MatSing, Cox Business/Hospitality Network, American Tower, CommScope, AmpThink and Belden. Their generous sponsorship makes it possible for us to offer this content free of charge to our readers. We’d also like to welcome readers from the Inside Towers community, who may have found their way here via our ongoing partnership with the excellent publication Inside Towers.

Come visit the new site — Stadium Tech Report!

If you have been reading stories on this site lately, you might not have noticed much that was new — that is mainly because we have moved all of our activity to our new website, Stadium Tech Report. While we will keep the lights on here at mobilesportsreport.com for a while until we can get everything moved over, the new site is our new home and you should change your bookmark to stadiumtechreport.com to get our latest and greatest news, analysis and opinions on all things stadium technology.

New Report: FC Cincinnati’s West End Stadium using technology to support safer, easier fan experience

Stadium Tech Report is pleased to announce our Spring 2021 issue, with a profile of the technology being deployed at FC Cincinnati’s new West End Stadium. With an eye toward making the fan experience better and safer, the Atomic Data-led deployment of Wi-Fi, entry and concessions technologies provides a robust technology infrastructure. Read our lead profile for all the details!

Our latest issue also has some forward-thinking analysis, including Bill Anderson’s essay on why Frequency Neutral Networks are the “magic” that will provide the kind of wireless connectivity users are seeking. Paul Kapustka weighs in on why concessions are going all-digital and cashless, and why that’s a good thing for everyone involved.

We are also featuring our second interview in our “Design Vision” series, this time with Kevin Devore of ME Engineers. We also have a recap of the wireless usage from Super Bowl LV in Tampa, where the reduced-size crowd still consumed data at a rate equal to past “big games.”

If you are reading on a desktop or tablet, you can view all the stories in our web magazine format.

We’d like to take a quick moment to thank our sponsors, which for this issue include Corning, Boingo, MatSing, Cox Business/Hospitality Network, American Tower, CommScope, AmpThink, ExteNet Systems and Belden. Their generous sponsorship makes it possible for us to offer this content free of charge to our readers. We’d also like to welcome readers from the Inside Towers community, who may have found their way here via our ongoing partnership with the excellent publication Inside Towers.

Shift4 buys VenueNext for $72 million

Shift4, a provider of integrated payment processing for a wide range of industries including retail, hospitality and lodging, has purchased stadium app provider VenueNext for $72 million to jump-start a bigger move into the large public venue marketplace.

According to press materials released by Shift4, the acquisition “significantly expands Shift4’s presence in large and growing verticals, adding to recent wins in the sports market, and expanding TAM with entry into entertainment, universities, theme parks, airports, and other verticals.”

Claiming it had more than $200 billion in payments processed for 200,000 businesses in 2019, Shift4 becomes the biggest player in the stadium app and concessions technology marketplace, where VenueNext previously competed with firms like Venuetize and YinzCam. Recently, Venuetize had made inroads on some team deals previously held by VenueNext, including with the San Jose Sharks.

As venues move toward more comprehensive digital solutions for services like ticketing, concessions and retail, it makes sense that payment-processing firms like Shift4 might want to target the space. Last year Shift4 signed a partnership deal with the Las Vegas Raiders to be the credit-card processing partner at the team’s new Allegiant Stadium. Shift4 is no stranger to Las Vegas, since the company’s systems are used in many of the city’s casinos.

VenueNext, a company started in part to provide the stadium app for the opening of the San Francisco 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium in 2014, had recently pivoted to provide more back-end POS services and a more open app platform, a move that netted the company the University of Florida as its first big-school college customer. As far as we know VenueNext had raised $24 million in venture funding over its private existence; it’s not yet known how its investors made out in the Shift4 deal.

We are setting up interviews with the companies involved, so stay tuned for more updates on this story.

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