Montreal Impact picks Aruba for new Wi-Fi network at Saputo Stadium

When fans are allowed back into Saputo Stadium, home of Major League Soccer’s Montreal Impact, at some future point they will be able to connect to a new Wi-Fi network using gear from Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

The ongoing deployment, announced today in a press release, will use approximately 250 802.11ac Wave 2 (aka Wi-Fi 5) APs to cover the 19,000-plus seat venue, according to Aruba. In the metal-framed sections of the venue, Aruba said 128 of the APs will be deployed in an under-seat enclosure.

“Though the pandemic has caused us to have to delay the start of our home game play this year, engaging with fans and allowing them to share their experiences with each other and via social media is still one of the main hallmarks of the in-stadium experience,” said Roger Miron, IT director for Saputo Stadium, in a prepared statement. “Implementing a reliable, high performing Wi-Fi network is the first step in our multi-phase initiative to enable extraordinary experiences, as well as improve our own stadium operations.”

According to the release, Saputo Stadium is working with Canadian telecom partner Vidéotron to deploy Aruba access points, mobility controllers and Aruba core and access switches, as well as Aruba’s Airwave network management system. In addition to fan-facing Internet access, the Impact and Saputo will look to use the new network to power new types of concession features, including mobile ordering, and will also look to debut a stadium app with mobile ticketing capability.

Boingo to bring Wi-Fi 6, DAS to Austin FC’s new stadium

Artist rendering of the under-construction stadium for Austin FC, which begins MLS play next season. Credit all photos: Austin FC

Austin FC has selected Boingo to deliver a neutral-host distributed antenna system and a Wi-Fi 6 network for the club’s new stadium, which is slated to open next year during Austin FC’s inaugural season in Major League Soccer.

While all scheduled things for sports and stadiums are currently “pending” due to the coronavirus pandemic, for right now the new venue located in the north-central part of the booming west Texas metropolis is still slated to open next year, according to Andy Loughnane, Austin FC President. And in a phone interview this week Loughnane said that when the stadium does open up, it should have the kind of connectivity that Austin’s tech-savvy populace will expect — namely, strong Wi-Fi and cellular.

According to Loughnane, Boingo emerged as the winner of a “competitive process” to choose the technology supplier for the venue. While some of the details of the networks have not yet been announced — including hardware vendors for both the DAS and the Wi-Fi networks — Loughnane and Boingo are confident that the stadium will have more than enough bandwidth to keep a full house of 20,500 soccer fans (or 22,000 concertgoers) well connected no matter where they are.

No matter which Wi-Fi vendor is selected, Loughnane said that using Wi-Fi 6 APs will be a performance key for what he hopes will be fully packed stands (if and when fans are allowed to attend large events again). Boingo senior vice president and general manager Doug Lodder said that the Wi-Fi network will use a combination of under-seat and overhead AP deployment, with “hundreds” of APs throughout the venue.


A construction cam shot shows the current state of the Austin FC stadium.

Friday links: NASCAR ready to roll, MLS considers Orlando-based tourney

In bits and pieces, sports across the country is trying to come back, mostly without any fans in attendance. At the very least, fans will at least have something to watch on TV besides a recap of Michael Jordan’s last title run.

NASCAR returns at Darlington, with no fans in attendance: This Sunday one of the bigger sports will return as NASCAR stages a race in Darlington, S.C. This ESPN post has a good breakdown of all the rules in place to keep drivers and staff safe from the coronavirus. What will be interesting will be to see how the announcers do, calling the race remotely. Here is an FAQ about the return to racing from the NASCAR web site.

MLS considering full-league tournament in Orlando: It sounds like a very strange summer vacation, but according to this Washington Post report, Major League Soccer is considering a plan to bring all 26 teams to Walt Disney World in Orlando for a full-league tournament. No official comments yet but it sounds like a fairly ambitious quarantine plan.

Golf gets going with a mini-tour event: With professional golf planning to hold events soon without fans, a mini-tour event in Arizona gave a glimpse of what it might look like to have players compete under safety conditions, which were followed by some but not all in this great report from Golf.com’s Alan Shipnuck from earlier this week. Now all we need is a self-sanitizing bunker rake and pin pole.

What will happen if and when the NFL season starts up? A couple interesting takes on what might happen (or not happen) if and when the NFL starts its season. In Carolina, the owner doesn’t see fans packing the venues at the start. And a good Washington Post piece about the challenges of coping with different situations in different states.

NCAA cancels March Madness; MLB, NHL, MLS susupend schedules

In another somewhat inevitable decision, the NCAA on Thursday announced it was canceling the men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournaments, “as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships.” After the NBA suspended its season Wednesday night and most conferences canceled their year-end tournaments in progress, it was quickly apparent that the NCAA’s Wednesday decision to hold games without fans was not going to be a good enough measure given the seriousness of the growing coronavirus pandemic.

Also on Thursday all of the other top professional sports with active schedules announced postponements to games, including Major League Baseball’s decision to postpone opening day by at least two weeks and to cancel spring training; the NHL’s decision to postpone its current season; and Major League Soccer’s decision to suspend its season for 30 days.

Statement tweets below.

Sharks, Earthquakes may see games without fans due to coronavirus event ban

UPDATE, 3/11/20: Sharks say upcoming games will be played without fans.

SAP Center, home of the San Jose Sharks. Credit: SanJoseSharks.com.

There’s no official word yet from the teams, but the San Jose Sharks and the San Jose Earthquakes could be among the first U.S. sports teams to have games take place without fans due to a ban on large events instituted by Santa Clara County in its efforts to fight the coronavirus.

The ban, which takes effect Wednesday in the county at the south end of the San Francisco Bay, will ban gatherings of more than 1,000 people for three weeks to help prevent the spread of the disease. It follows Santa Clara County’s first reported death from coronavirus.

The NHL’s Sharks, who are scheduled to play at home at the SAP Center against the Montreal Canadiens on March 19, have two other games that could be affected, a game against Boston on March 21 and a game against Arizona on March 29. According to a page on the Sharks website that the team says will be constantly updated, the team made the following statement Monday night:

SAP Center at San Jose is aware of the County of Santa Clara’s Public Health Department order to prohibit public and private mass gatherings through the end of March. We will adhere to the mandated guidelines. No events are scheduled at SAP Center until Tues., March 17. We will be reviewing each scheduled event due to take place for the rest of the month and provide an update in the coming days. We appreciate the understanding and patience of our fans, guests and partners during this unprecedented time.

Major League Soccer’s Earthquakes, who have a home game at Earthquakes Stadium scheduled for March 21, have not yet posted any information regarding the event ban. Prior to last weekend’s home game, the Earthquakes did take precautionary measures to limit any chances of the disease spreading but still hosted a game against Minnesota.

The BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament was the first large U.S. sports event to be canceled due to coronavirus concerns. In Europe, soccer games have taken place in front of empty stands because of coronavirus concerns, a practice also employed by other countries hit hard by the disease.

UPDATE: The Earthquakes tweeted that there will be more information soon:

Houston’s BBVA Stadium gets Wi-Fi 6 network from Extreme

Under-seat Wi-Fi AP enclosure at BBVA Stadium in Houston. Credit all photos: Extreme Networks (click on any picture for a larger image)

Chalk up another venue going with the new Wi-Fi 6 standard for its new network deployment: BBVA Stadium in Houston, home of Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo and the National Women’s Soccer League’s Houston Dash, now has a new Wi-Fi network using gear from Extreme Networks, according to a release from Extreme.

The 282-AP deployment uses a mix of overhead APs for seating areas with overhangs, and under-seat enclosures for open-bowl seats. The enclosures in the photos provided to us are some of Extreme’s new designs specifically built for stadium deployment, with (especially for the under-seat enclosures) fan-friendly angles and easy access to get to the equipment inside. (Extreme showed some of the new enclosures to MSR during a visit at the SEAT Conference this summer.)

Any readers out there been to the 22,000-seat BBVA Stadium recently, give us a holler or send us some speed test results. More photos of the deployment below.

An overhead AP covers the top seating area


An under-seat enclosure and its conduit


Note the angled pitch of the enclosure

More APs up top taking advantage of the overhang location

A good look at the overall architecture of BBVA Stadium

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