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Team stadium apps vs. Twitter: Which one will win?

November 11, 2013 by

Screen shot of the home page for the Niners' Gameday Live app

Screen shot of the home page for the Niners’ Gameday Live app

Will team stadium apps be able to hold off the challenge from independent apps like Twitter? This matchup came to mind Sunday when the Mobile Sports Report team convened for a get-together at Candlestick Park, the on-the-way-out home of the San Francisco 49ers.

Since Candlestick is going to be all blowed up after this season, it’s probably not fair to single out the Niners’ app and network for poor performance this year. I mean, why build a Wi-Fi network in a place that’s going to be torn down? I will say that the new DAS seems to be working well, since I had no problems getting a cell signal all day. But when I tried to watch live video via the Niners app, it told me I had to be on stadium Wi-Fi to watch video.

But the Wi-Fi network wouldn’t connect. After long minutes and several attempts. Finally I gave up. I tried my Verizon NFLMobile app, which lets me watch RedZone on Sundays. But no! Verizon NFLMobile, which monitors your location via GPS, won’t let you watch live video or RedZone while in an NFL stadium. The only person around us with live video of anything NFL on his phone was a guy who gets the Sunday Ticket service from DirecTV. Tell me, if you’re a fan, you’re not frustrated with the idiotic hurdles the NFL puts in front of its best content to satisfy its rights deals. Guys, you’ve had several years to figure this out. It’s the biggest C’mon Man I can think of. LET US WATCH LIVE VIDEO! MAKE IT EASY!

Again to be clear: This isn’t an app review, or a formal survey. But just looking at all the phone use in the stands, I didn’t see anyone else on the Niners team app. I saw a lot of people on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter. Or just sending picture and text messages. What is the common thread for those apps? They are simple to use, they are fast, they have great and easy interfaces on a mobile phone. They are already filled with the people who I want to follow or communicate with. With any one of those apps, you are doing something within one or two clicks.

Fan Zone page of Niners stadium app.

Fan Zone page of Niners stadium app.

With the team apps, that’s just not the case. The Niners app — which looks like a lot of other team apps, since it’s built by stadium app market leader YinzCam — is incredibly dense, with lots of very small type. Which, while it looks OK in a screenshot like the ones here, is almost impossible to see in the harsh outdoor light of a stadium. Opening it up for the first time at the Niners game, I was underwhelmed by the overload of information and choices available. And then when the live video didn’t work… I mean, really, what else is there in the team app that could be different, or make me want to go there?

Stats? Yardages? That stuff isn’t crucial to people sitting in the stands. Where the team app could really make a difference is if it gave detailed information on what just happened in front of my eyes — you know, the kind of stuff that is instantly delivered to people at home watching games on their couch. Someone is hurt? Injured? You’re up there in the stands, you have no idea of what happened or why there are people standing around on the field. I couldn’t find an audio feed of the TV broadcast on the team app — why not have that available? Or at least the radio simulcast? What about that last play? Was it a fumble? How did Vernon Davis get a concussion? In the stands, you have one chance to see what happens. And in many cases, no way of knowing what the outcome was, especially since most teams (Niners included) only show replays of “positive” events for the home team. Again: treating fans like idiots or children is no way to make the stadium a better experience.

My simple thought, as I switched back to Twitter — where, by following some of the beat writers who cover the Niners, I was able to get almost-instant info from their press box tweets — is that the team apps seem designed to be sold to the teams and the leagues, and not with the fan in mind. I have no desire to go to the Niners’ app to find other people on Twitter to interact with or follow. If public sports websites are any guide, anything open to the public is already overrun by ignorant trolls. I’ll stick with my own Twitter feed, thanks. And now that Twitter is adding in NFL highlights, I probably have a better chance of seeing live video there than via the team apps. How are team apps, with their rights restrictions, clunky design and team-sanitized information, going to keep up with fast-moving folks like Twitter, especially now with tools like Vine or Instagram video? Anyone want to bet that we start seeing more fan replay videos on Twitter before we get good, easy to get official team replays?

Maybe these apps are working better in other stadiums, where the networks are better. My guess is, even at those places there is slow uptake. If teams really want to use technology to make the stadium a better experience than the couch, they’ve got to do more to make connecting easier. The network hookup needs to be drop dead simple. If I don’t have Wi-Fi turned on, the app should figure out how to do that itself. (Or ask when it’s first opened up, not after I’ve gone three clicks in to find the “live video” button.) Activities should be one or two clicks, not a laundry list of choices and treed menus. Though there is a lot of down time at games, it’s not that long. Apps should work faster than a play clock… if you can’t get there in 45 seconds, it’s a fail.

Safe to say, we are going to cover app development AND uptake as part of our stadium technology focus. I think right now it is the weak link in the whole connected stadium equation. One scene on the way out of the Niners game made me realize just how far behind the apps are; instead of staying in their seats to watch the crucial possible last-minute drive, many San Francisco fans were outside on the concourse… watching the TV coverage on the high-def screens above the concession stands. Because on TV, they know, they will get multiple replay angles and explanations. These fans weren’t bad fans for leaving their seats. They were, actually, just trying to find the best game-viewing experience. They should be the people interviewed next about what should be in a team app. Because what’s there now obviously isn’t reaching them. Or keeping them in their seats.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, NFL, NFL Mobile, Twitter, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Stadium Tech Report: Cal Bears, AT&T get creative with DAS deployment for Memorial Stadium

November 8, 2013 by

Cal's Memorial Stadium. Note the lack of overhanging structure.

Cal’s Memorial Stadium. Note the lack of overhanging structure.

What do you do when the construction of your big bowl stadium won’t allow you to install Wi-Fi? You start building the biggest DAS you can, to bring as much cellular capacity as possible to the fans who will fill the seats.

That problem and solution is now underway in Berkeley, at the University of California’s newly renovated Memorial Stadium. Though it now has a shiny new press box and suites on its west side, the 63,000-seat facility still has its old “big bowl” shape throughout the rest of the facility, an architectural quirk that leaves no place to put Wi-Fi antennas. To try and best overcome the design challenges, Cal and its partner AT&T are currently putting in place as big a DAS (distributed antenna system) as they possibly can, to bring as much cellular capacity as the stadium placements will allow.

At a press event Thursday to officially announce AT&T’s campus-wide Wi-Fi and DAS deployments — which are currently bringing welcome speedy connectivity to all the other parts of the school’s Berkeley footprint — Cal officials and AT&T execs noted that bringing better wireless to Memorial Stadium is also going to be a necessary evil, going forward.

Solly Fulp, COO of Cal Athletics

Solly Fulp, COO of Cal Athletics

“We compete with the couch, and the HD TV,” said Solly Fulp, the Deputy Director of Athletics and Chief Operating Officer at Cal, at a quick press conference kicking off the Thursday events. “If we do not deliver an outstanding fan experience, people will do other things with their time.”

Right now, the wireless experience inside Memorial isn’t cutting edge. Basically a big concrete bowl filled with seats, Memorial has none of the overhanging levels that allow you to more easily attach antennas underneath, be they Wi-Fi access points or the small antennas used in DAS deployments. While the new press box and suites and internal construction improvements completed last year have brought the facility up to date on one level, for supplemental wireless coverage right now AT&T is using COWs (cell towers on wheels) in several spots around the stadium, covered with stealthy black cloth. But construction for a big, new DAS deployment is already underway.

North end of Memorial Stadium. The lower poles seen here will house DAS antennas

North end of Memorial Stadium. The lower poles seen here will house DAS antennas

According to AT&T, the low poles sticking up from the top of the bowl, currently used to house speakers, will by next season be equipped with DAS antennas focused down into the sections of seats. There will also be DAS antennas housed inside boxes mounted above tunnel entrances, and along the underside of the press/suite facility wherever possible. While Wi-Fi can typically support faster communications and more bandwidth, the DAS AT&T is putting in will support AT&T’s 4G LTE network, which is as fast as cellular gets. As in most stadiums we’ve talked to, putting in a DAS is priority one for wireless, since it helps eliminate the “no signal” problem common to big facilities that don’t have any extra cellular or Wi-Fi services.

AT&T and Cal are walling off this section of concourse to house future DAS equipment

AT&T and Cal are walling off this section of concourse to house future DAS equipment

AT&T, which will act as a neutral host for the Memorial DAS (meaning that other service providers can connect their back-end systems to the AT&T-installed antennas) is even getting creative finding space for its head-end gear, the routers and switches needed on site to help complete the cellular connections. In one concourse underneath the stands, AT&T and Cal are walling off a small part of the internal walkways to house the necessary DAS gear.

One of the COWs (cell on wheels) installed outside Memorial's front gates

One of the COWs (cell on wheels) installed outside Memorial’s front gates

From there, optical fiber will connect the stadium to a nearby AT&T central office, where more call processing can take place.

Will the big DAS be enough to keep Cal fans connected? From what we heard at Thursday’s press event both the school and the carrier think that the wireless networks will always be a work in progress. And according to Cal’s Fulp, better cellular is already one of the top three concerns voiced by season ticket holders.

“It’s the simple things that matter,” Fulp said, saying that for the most part, fans at games want to be able to contact people at home — “sending a text to the babysitter, saying you’ll be late” — or to share a picture or a video with friends who couldn’t be at the game. “People expect to be connected, and at sports events it’s amplified,” Fulp said.

When the members of Cal’s class of 2014 toss their graduation caps into the air next spring, Fulp wants to see a “best in class” DAS in action at Memorial. What will that take from partner AT&T? “Every place we can find to put an antenna, we will,” said one AT&Ter who showed us around Memorial. Sounds creative to us.

(all photos credit: Paul Kapustka, Mobile Sports Report; user hint: click on photos to see more detail!)

An artsy shot of Cal's famed Sather Tower, aka the Campanile

An artsy shot of Cal’s famed Sather Tower, aka the Campanile

Another COW deployment, the fuzzy black things behind the stadium wall

Another COW deployment, the fuzzy black things behind the stadium wall

Find the antenna!

Find the antenna!

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, MSR Guides, NCAA Football, Wi-Fi

Aruba scores with new Wi-Fi deployment for Portland Trail Blazers; Toyota dealers sign on as Wi-Fi sponsor

November 1, 2013 by

Wireless networking vendor Aruba Networks scored a big-time NBA deal as the centerpiece technology behind an enhanced Wi-Fi deployment at the Moda Center, home of the Portland Trail Blazers. With more than 400 Wi-Fi access points reportedly deployed, the 20,000-seat arena should have great connectivity for fans as the 2014 NBA season kicks off this week.

While we haven’t yet talked to Aruba folks about the deal (we are working off the numerous versions of the press release we found yesterday) there seems to be a really interesting financial twist, one that could prove a model for others if successful: According to the press releases the local Toyota dealerships in the greater Portland area have signed on as title sponsor for the new Wi-Fi service, which will appear to user devices as “Toyota Free Wi-Fi” in the SSID list. With teams and stadium owner/operators facing the question of how to pay for Wi-Fi infrastructure deployments, title sponsorships could be one way to help offset the millions in sunk costs.

We’ll try to circle back with all the companies involved in the deal, since there are many fingers in this pie: According to the release there is participation from Crown Castle on the deployment side, and popular team-app provider YinzCam scoring yet another team-app deal.

Filed Under: Apps, Basketball, NBA, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Horned Frogs get AT&T Wi-Fi, DAS for TCU Stadium

October 25, 2013 by

In case you had any doubts that AT&T is serious about this whole wireless-in-stadiums market, we have yet another announcement: AT&T announced availability of a Wi-Fi and DAS network for Texas Christian University’s Amon G. Carter Stadium, located in Fort Worth (“Foat Wuth”). There’s also a mobile app available for Horned Frogs fans, complete with the Bypass Lane powered concessions ordering feature.

For a company that claimed it wasn’t doing Wi-Fi networks in stadiums anymore, AT&T has sure been busy launching them. I guess we can alter the “no Wi-Fi” plan to “we’ll put in Wi-Fi if we get to own the network.” For TCU, AT&T’s implementation looks pretty robust, with 345 Wi-Fi access points and another 140 DAS antennas. At 45,000+ seats, the TCU stadium is what you might call middle-big, but 345 APs and 140 DAS should do pretty well, especially with an AT&T operation behind the scene.

Looks like our friends from Cisco might have a win in purple-land too, since the AT&T press release said the facility also now has a StadiumVision deployment, bringing high-definition information to all the digital displays in the stadium. No mention of Cisco in the release, but that’s pretty standard. We’ll circle back with Cisco folks to see if they can shed more light.

If we were doing a BCS-type ranking for college stadium deployments, you’d have to make AT&T the Alabama equivalent at No. 1, right? Any Verizon networks going in at colleges that we haven’t heard about? Let us know…

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Cisco, DAS, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

AT&T Bosox fans set wireless data records during World Series opener

October 24, 2013 by

It’s a bit of a broken record — another big sporting event, another huge wireless data usage event — but the numbers never fail to amaze me: According to our friends at AT&T, fans at Fenway Park Wednesday night set new records for wireless data usage during the Red Sox victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the opening game of the 2013 World Series. How much data? Try 248 GB of data, bigger even than the Bosox’s Big Papi.

Mind you, none of these figures represent traffic that might have traversed over the Meru-supplied Wi-Fi network inside Fenway. The following figures are all from AT&T’s Distributed Antenna System (DAS) network, the collection of small cellular antennas that bring better connectivity to crowded public places. And this is only AT&T carried data, which means that the total of all wireless customers in the park is almost certainly a multiple larger. But for your enjoyment here are the AT&T stats, direct from our AT&T sources:

— Data usage on the AT&T in-stadium network during Game 1 was 248 GB (gigabytes) of data
— 248 GB of data is equal to more than 700,000 social media posts with photos
— AT&T fans made more than 17,361 voice calls and sent more than 56,335 SMS text messages Wednesday night on our in-stadium network
— The peak hour for data traffic on the in-stadium network was from 10–11 p.m. EST
— The 248 GB total surpassed the record for data usage for the AT&T in-stadium network at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in 2013, which was 183 GB set on 10/11/13

We’ll see if the Meru folks can provide any Wi-Fi stats before the series ends. Like football, baseball is perfect for data dalliances because of all the downtime between action. Just more proof that this mobile sports thing is more than just a fad.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Baseball, DAS, Major League Baseball, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Soldier Field gets upgraded DAS from AT&T, Boingo

October 23, 2013 by

We’re not sure exactly how much better the new DAS install is at Soldier Field in Chicago, but we are convinced that it may take some time for the mainstream media to learn the difference between better cellular and Wi-Fi.

(What do we mean? One Chicago TV station and the Chicago Tribune think that a new DAS means faster Wi-Fi. Ah well. In the meantime, keep reading MSR if you need clarity and details about stadium technology.)

In a somewhat confusing press release, Boingo and AT&T, in partnership with venue management services provider SMG, announced an “enhanced distributed antenna system network” at the home of the Chicago Bears, that wonderful old/new facility located hard along Lake Michigan’s shore just south of downtown.

What’s confusing about the release is that it doesn’t quite explain how and why Boingo and AT&T are partnering with SMG as neutral-host operators. Plus, it seems that both Boingo and AT&T have already been operating DAS installs at the stadium, so who knows how “new” the enhancements really are. Our best guess (we have emails in to both companies so expect more clarity soon) is that since Boingo has been operating Soldier Field’s Wi-Fi and AT&T is bullish on DAS installs everywhere, it makes sense to team up with an upgrade that will now provide better coverage, probably with more antennas and new coverage for AT&T’s 4G LTE network. We’d call this arrangement a win for Boingo, which is intent on building up its stadium DAS and Wi-Fi business. Plus, the companies have done business together before so maybe partnering for a DAS isn’t so confusing after all.

No word yet whether Verizon or Sprint or T-Mobile has signed on to participate in the DAS, or whether the new DAS will keep Bears fans online longer, distracting them from worrying about the health of Jay Cutler’s groin. Good thing to have as the snowflakes start flying in the Windy City.

UPDATE 1, 10/24: We are still seeking clarity on the business arrangement, but an AT&T spokesperson confirmed our guess about the LTE addition. Here is an official AT&T breakdown of the enhancements to the DAS: “The DAS equipment at Soldier Field is equivalent to about 7 individual cell sites, or enough to service a town about the size of 88,000. The DAS contains more than 250 stealth antennas inside and outside the stadium which have increased AT&T’s network capacity by approximately double (100%). The design changed when we added layers to the wedge shape that was previously used. The old system had 16 sectors, sliced like a pie. The new system has 22 sectors that service each section of the stadium as well as each level of the stadium.”

Sounds good. But now I’m thinking about pie. Pumpkin, with whipped cream. Hmmm.

UPDATE 2, 10/25: Now from the Boingo folks, who wouldn’t say more about operational details other than that Boingo and AT&T worked together on the upgrade. More from Boingo, which answers our question about whether there are other carriers using the DAS: “Boingo is responsible for the ongoing operation and management of the DAS network, working closely with both SMG at Soldier Field and AT&T. Boingo also manages Soldier Field DAS network access contracts for Verizon, Sprint and US Cellular.”

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, NFL, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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