Churchill Downs

Cellular use tops 12 TB for Kentucky Derby day — 20 TB+ for Derby weekend

May 9, 2016 by Paul Kapustka 2 Comments

Race winner Nyquist. Photo: KentuckDerby.com

Wireless data use at Saturday’s Kentucky Derby broke records all around, as major wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon Wireless both reported new event-usage top totals, with AT&T seeing 6.7 terabytes of data use while Verizon recorded 5.5 TB, for a total of 12.2 TB used during the Run for the Roses day. Last year, AT&T saw 5.1 TB of traffic on the Churchill Downs DAS and some extra infrastructure, while Verizon saw its total increase from 3.8 TB in 2015. Both AT&T and Verizon are on the main Churchill Downs DAS, which is run by neutral-host provider Mobilitie. This number will likely get even bigger if and when we get DAS stats from T-Mobile, which is also on the Churchill Downs DAS.

For the entire “Derby weekend” — a two-day stretch that also includes the Kentucky Oaks race on Friday — the carriers saw a combined 20.15 TB of data, with AT&T hitting 11.4 TB for the weekend and Verizon 8.75. Those totals are pretty stunning, when you realize that just two years ago AT&T only saw 2 TB of traffic on its DAS and associated infrastructure (which includes temporary cell towers on trucks and nearby macro towers), and Verizon customers used just 1.37 TB of data.

More evidence of wireless traffic growth can be found in the AT&T claim that it saw 815 GB of traffic on its network in a single hour last Saturday, easily the high number ever for AT&T at any kind of event. AT&T said that peak hour was from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern time, when the big race was held and favorite Nyquist won. In 2014, that peak hour for AT&T saw 180 GB of traffic, a number that we thought was big then. Verizon, which like AT&T added capacity to its infrastructure at Churchill Downs prior to this year’s race, also said it saw a traffic spike around the time of the big event. By comparison, AT&T said that at this year’s Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium it saw 201 GB of traffic on its DAS network just after kickoff.

When it comes to DAS the Derby now falls just behind the Super Bowl for DAS totals with 12.2 TB to 15.9 TB, though the Derby number could get closer if and when we get numbers from T-Mobile and Sprint. And yes, granted it’s a much bigger crowd (the Derby had its second-highest attendance ever with 167,227 — just a few thousand less than the record of 170,513 set last year. We also don’t have any stats yet for usage of the new Churchill Downs app, but it does appear betting was up this year, maybe due to app integration?

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, VenueNext, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, Churchill Downs, DAS, Kentucky Derby, Levi's Stadium, Mobile Sports Report, Mobilitie, Paul Kapustka, Verizon Wireless

Churchill Downs picks VenueNext for new Kentucky Derby app

April 29, 2016 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Screenshot of new Kentucky Derby app built by VenueNext for Churchill Downs.

Fans at this year’s Kentucky Derby will be able to find their way around historic Churchill Downs and place bets on races via a new venue mobile app, designed by VenueNext, the app developer for Levi’s Stadium and other football, baseball and basketball teams.

Most of the standard features of the VenueNext app platform, including interactive wayfinding and digital ticketing support, will be available to all fans for the May 7 Derby Day, according to Churchill Downs Racetrack general manager Ryan Jordan. Additionally, a small number of premium-seat ticketholders will be able to order food and drink for delivery to their seats via the app, a sort of “beta test” of one of the other VenueNext app services that Jordan said Churchill Downs plans to expand for future races.

“We’re very excited to roll this app out” on Derby Day, said Jordan in a phone interview. Though the racetrack has previously had some mobile apps, Jordan said they were mainly focused on the social element of the event, with links back to the Derby website. The VenueNext-powered app infrastructure, he said, “really translates well to our venue and we think will significantly improve the fan experience at the Kentucky Derby.”

Ryan Jordan, general manager, Churchill Downs

For VenueNext, the big-name deal is its first outside of stadium sports, and the sixth app deal overall, following deals for apps for the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Yankees, the Orlando Magic and the Minnesota Vikings. VenueNext also designed a special Levi’s Stadium app for the recent Super Bowl 50.

Wayfinding, betting, and more

One of the top features from the VenueNext app package that “excites” Jordan is the app’s ability to use a beacon infrastructure to support a live interactive wayfinding map, where app users can track themselves in “blue dot” fashion similar to Google maps for driving. Since Churchill Downs is an old, sprawling facility, Jordan said that helping fans find their way was always a challenge.

“There’s been 142 years of building this place out, and it’s not like a bowl stadium where you can just keep walking in a circle to find things,” Jordan said. “To be able to use a mobile app to find your seats, find your car after the race, and find amenities like betting windows is very exciting. We have lots of signage, but there are lots of different buildings and signs, and it can be hard to find your way around.”

For several years now, the Derby has been building its own mobile betting app, which allows fans to place bets from anywhere at the track. That app, called Twinspires, is now also integrated within the new VenueNext app, which means that fans don’t have to exit and find another app to place wagers.

Wayfinding map screenshot

To make sure fans can stay connected anywhere on the grounds, Churchill Downs and partners Mobilitie and AT&T upgraded the venue’s DAS again this offseason, adding more capacity for AT&T 4G LTE services. Though Churchill Downs does have a small amount of Wi-Fi for the main buildings like the clubhouse and the towers, Jordan said that service is mainly for race days other than the big event.

“For regular race days [when fans are mostly in the main buildings] we may have 10,000 to 20,000 people here,” Jordan said. “For the Derby, we will have 170,000.”

Starting slow with food delivery

Also included in the app is the ability for fans to order food and drink to be delivered to their seats, or to be picked up at an express window at a nearby concession stand. Jordan said that during the offseason Churchill Downs retrofitted several kitchen areas to support the delivery and express pickup options, but that the track will start small with the service and expand from there. In addition to the Turf Club and its 500 seats where delivery will be an option, another 15 sections of seats will be able to use the app for express pickup orders, Jordan said.

“There’s a lot of employee training and infrastructure [for deliveries] that’s new to us,” said Jordan, explaining the start-slow approach. “The good news is, there’s lots of opportunity to keep expanding as we go.”

(more app screenshots below)

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Apps, AT&T, DAS, Levi's Stadium, Sports Betting, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, Churchill Downs, DAS, Horse Racing, Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks, Levi's Stadium, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, Sports betting on mobile devices, VenueNext, Wi-Fi

Mobilitie, AT&T beef up DAS coverage at Churchill Downs ahead of Kentucky Derby

April 26, 2016 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

White DAS antennas visible on the overhangs at Churchill Downs. Photo: Mobilitie (click on any photo for a larger image).

Since it’s legal in horse racing, how about a bet? Who thinks the final AT&T DAS traffic total from the Kentucky Derby weekend will pass 10 terabytes this year? After hitting 5.1 TB during last year’s two days of racing, what are the odds on wireless data used there doubling down again? Anyone want to bet against growth?

For sure, operators of the wireless infrastructure at the track aren’t going to left behind for lack of trying — according to neutral-host DAS provider Mobilitie and DAS design partner AT&T, there will be approximately a 50 percent increase in AT&T’s cellular capacity at Churchill Downs this year, with double coverage in the 1900 MHz band compared to last year, according to AT&T.

Mobilitie president Christos Karmis said in a phone interview this week that “every year, the amount of data used has doubled,” at least since Mobilitie put in the first part of the DAS at the track for the 2013 event. Since then, Karmis said the DAS antenna count has grown from 253 to 290, and the network now has 55 sectors, in and around the track and seating areas as well as in the parking lots. In addition to AT&T, the DAS also carries traffic for Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile, neither of which have reported traffic totals from the event.

Biggest DAS in sports?

Where all the Kentucky Derby race-day social media posts go to find the Internet (aka the head end at the Churchill Downs DAS). Photo: Mobilitie

With race day drawing 170,513 fans last year, the Kentucky Derby may well be one of the most challenging events to provide wireless coverage to, with multiple spikes in traffic due to two full days of racing (there are 13 races scheduled for Friday May 6, the Kentucky Oaks Day, and 14 scheduled for Saturday May 7, the Kentucky Derby Day).

According to Karmis, the fans are mainly shooting video and taking pictures during the races, and then posting those images to social media networks during the breaks in between. And then there’s the betting, which can be done on premises via the twinspires app, which drives additional traffic. And then there’s the hats and fashion, which are worth lots of pictures themselves, especially if you see any celebrities during the red-carpet parade.

Though there is still a small amount of Wi-Fi in the main track buildings — at least there was a couple years ago when we did a profile on the new networks — the DAS is the workhorse at the venue, which spreads out far and wide and includes an infield area full of fans as well.

“It’s crazy to try to keep up” with the data demands, Karmis said.

With any luck on our side, we’ll be able to get Verizon and T-Mobile to send over their DAS stats after the event to see if the weekend of races can match the DAS total of 15.9 TB from Super Bowl 50. If the AT&T data alone has gone from 2 TB two years ago to 5.1 TB last year, what’s the total going to be for this year? Put your predictions in the comments below!

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, Horse Racing, Levi's Stadium, Super Bowl, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, Churchill Downs, DAS, Kentucky Derby, Levi's Stadium, Mobile Sports Report, Mobilitie, Paul Kapustka, Super Bowl, Wi-Fi

AT&T sees massive traffic on new Kentucky Derby DAS deployment from Mobilitie

May 12, 2014 by Paul Kapustka 1 Comment

We’ve got a more in-depth review of the wireless experience at the Kentucky Derby on the way, but we did want to share with our readers the somewhat amazing stats from the AT&T wireless network over the weekend of racing at Churchill Downs. With a new DAS from Mobilitie in place, AT&T said it saw a total of 2 Terabytes of traffic over the weekend and a stunning total of 180 Gigabytes of traffic during the peak hour of 5-6 p.m. EDT, just before the 140th Kentucky Derby race went off on May 3.

According to a press release, that peak hour of wireless traffic was the most ever for AT&T at any in-venue event, including the various Super Bowls. What’s even more impressive is that the new DAS also hosted traffic from Verizon Wireless, which did not provide any statistics from the event; however, it’s a good guess that Verizon customers among the 260,000 attendees during race weekend were doing the same things AT&T customers were, taking pictures and sending messages from one of the pure “bucket list” events in sports.

Like we said, more details on the network deployment and challenges at Churchill Downs, in our next Stadium Tech Report. Stay tuned!

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, Horse Racing, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: 4G LTE, Churchill Downs, DAS, Kentucky Derby, Mobile Sports Report, Mobilitie, Paul Kapustka, stadium DAS, Super Bowl, wireless stadium traffic

Churchill Downs taps Mobilitie for DAS upgrade ahead of Kentucky Derby

April 30, 2014 by Paul Kapustka 2 Comments

Texting and calling on Kentucky Derby day should work a lot better for fans at the legendary Churchill Downs racetrack this weekend, thanks to a recent doubling of the facility’s DAS infrastructure.

According to infrastructure deployer Mobilitie, the 140th running of the Derby and other associated races is expected to attract more than 260,000 fans to the Louisville, Ky., home of perhaps the world’s most famous thoroughbred event. With coverage improvements that Mobilitie said effectively doubles the capacity of the previous distributed antenna system (DAS) installment, fans should have better cellular coverage in more areas, including the track’s parking lot and other outside areas.

A Mobilitie press release said that the upgraded DAS will cover all six levels and basement in the Churchill Downs main building, and will also cover all of the grandstands, the parking areas and the newly installed Grandstand Terrace. In addition, Mobilitie said new coverage will also support temporary hospitality suites as well as the entire infield area. Mobilitie said the DAS system is one of the largest in the country, with more than 253 antennas and over 1 million feet of fiber optic cable installed throughout the venue. So far, AT&T and Verizon Wireless have signed on to use the DAS, which means that for this year at least most wireless customers will have access to improved connectivity. According to Mobilitie, both carriers’ 4G LTE signals will be supported by the neutral DAS.

FastBet app screen shot

“Since 2003, Churchill Downs has invested $160 million into improving the onsite customer experience for guests attending the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby,” said Ryan Jordan, general manager of Churchill Downs, in a prepared statement. “A major part of the live event experience is ensuring that fans maintain connectivity to their social networks. As a result of the upgrades that Mobilitie made this year, our guests with smartphone service from participating carriers will be able to share those memorable experiences as they happen live with their entire network.”

Fans at the race can also use smartphones to bet on the races via their mobile devices, using the track’s Wi-Fi network that covers a large segment of the main building’s stands and suites. According to the Churchill Downs website, the FastBet Mobile system only works on the track’s Wi-Fi network, most likely due to security and billing requirements. A map shows which areas of the stands are covered by Wi-Fi.

Filed Under: AT&T, DAS, Horse Racing, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, Churchill Downs, DAS, horse race betting, Horse Racing, Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks, mobile sports betting, Mobile Sports Report, Mobilitie, neutral host DAS, Paul Kapustka, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi