Around the world, over 60 new major sports stadiums are set to open between now and 2020. As all stadiums have been for millennia, these new facilities will be centers of pride and excitement for their communities. In 2018, building a great stadium means great technology. Here are 4 trends to watch for in stadiums on the drawing board this year:
1) 802.11ax WiFi
Staying engaged with the game and connected with your friends means having great Internet access. In-Stadium WiFi, now available at most major venues, allows you to get online to share, connect, or check out the other games. However, the WiFi standard, 802.11, has previously primarily been designed for in-home and in-office users. Putting 50,000 fans in one single stadium bowl results in interference and limits the total aggregate bandwidth available in the facility.
The new standard of 802.11ax, though, has a number of design changes which specifically address “high density” WiFi deployments, such as a stadium. Most importantly, a technology called Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), allows improved spectral efficiency – a technique which allows the WiFi network to significantly improve how it manages a network with many simultaneously connected devices. Paired with uplink scheduling, this means that instead of “talking over” each other, individual clients can now be assigned their own small set of frequencies called subcarriers, making sure that your phone is able to access a clean, fast WiFi signal even within a busy network.
Look for 802.11ax to start appearing in WiFi access points late in 2018, with mobile phones supporting the technology to follow.
2) 5G Mobile Networks
As popular as in-stadium WiFi is, cellular connectivity is even more popular. Every single person in the stadium can be assumed to have an active, connected mobile device with them – possibly more than one. A massive bandwidth increase came as carriers migrated to 4G LTE, enabling the always-on connectivity which todays’ mobile apps and devices expect. The next generation of cellular connectivity, 5G, is now in the works. Although 5G devices are not expected to become mainstream until the early 2020’s, that timeline matches exactly with the opening of any stadium that’s being designed today.
Two key proving ground events for 5G technology are taking place in just the next month. First, AT&T is rolling out a product called “5G Evolution” at the Super Bowl in Minneapolis. Second, Intel is deploying 5G services to the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. It’s not a coincidence that these are both sporting events – the user density and bandwidth demands of the stadiums mean these are the most challenging Radio Frequency (RF) environment possible – so the operators, carriers, and equipment manufacturers will all learn a lot about how to design 5G services to meet real-world demands.
When looking at stadium design for 5G service, one of the most impactful changes is that 5G will support much higher frequencies. The FCC has already approved 5G service on 28, 37, and 39 GHz bands – compared to the 0.7 to 2 GHz frequencies used today for 4G. Higher frequencies can transmit more data, but they also have significantly lower transmission range. This means more antennas and more radios, located closer to the seats. Stadium designs will need to account for getting antennas, equipment, and cabling much closer to the seats.
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3) In-Seat Charging
As everyone knows, the more you use your phone, the faster the battery drains. In order to bring new apps like augmented reality to a stadium, fans need to be able to use their phone without worrying about running out of power. Charging has been a difficult solution in public spaces, hindered by everything from incompatible cable connectors, to the hassle of finding a plug, to the inconvenience of having your device tethered down, to broken ports clogged with food and sticky soda.
With Apple’s embrace of Qi wireless charging in the latest iPhones and broad adoption across Android manufacturers, a new option has opened up which makes in-seat charging possible. As it is wireless, a Qi charging pad can be located in a public place and sealed. It can be built to be waterproof, beer proof, and soda proof. There’s no plug to wear out and no cable you have to carry around. Built in to the arm rest of a seat, wireless charging can give your phone a top-up every time you set it down. It’s a practical solution that will see new stadiums being designed with the wiring and power feeds needed to support connected seats.
4) Stadiums designed for e-sports
E-Sports is pushing its way in to the mainstream. In October, the first dedicated e-sports stadium in the US opened in California, the Blizzard Arena Los Angeles. Hosting events such as the Hearthstone Championship, Overwatch Contenders Playoffs, and World of Warcraft Arena Championship. With a capacity of only 450, though, the in-person seating is limited. On television and online, though, e-sports tournaments are breaking records. In fact, the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship 2017 event reached over 46 million unique online viewers. Special events hosted at hockey and basketball arenas can draw over 20,000 attendees. E-Sports fans represent a huge potential market for stadiums to host live, in-person and streamed events at venues with much larger seating capacities.
In order to provide a great experience for a live e-sports event, though, infrastructure and facilities must be in place for gaming. Most importantly, everyone needs a great view of all of the in-game action – only visible on a screen. It’s in conflict with the traditional design of a stadium, where the field or court is first, and the screen is typically a secondary element to help you see “better.” Instead, if the screen is the primary focus, the flow and design of the facility can be radically rethought. E-Sports stadiums will not only bring in their own fan base, but will push the envelope for technology to be integrated in stadiums for all kinds of sports.
The growing market of e-sports, estimated at over $1.5 billion USD with over 280 million fans by 2020, means that premier new stadiums are going to be designed to host these events. One of the world’s most prominent stadium architecture firms has already launched a team to work specifically on e-sports arenas. Expect to see announcements for new and retrofit e-sports arena projects from major firms in 2018.
About Benjamin T. Brillat:
Benjamin is the Chief Architect for the IBM’s Global Sports & Connected Venue services team. In this role, he is responsible for developing the technical solutions and reference architectures to service stadiums, arenas, shopping malls, airports, hotels, casinos, and other large public venue spaces. He is also responsible for educating and enabling the in-country local IBM delivery teams around the world with the assets and training which they need to successfully deliver these projects.
Prior to this role, Benjamin was the Chief Technology Architect on the Atlanta Falcons’ new Mercedes-Benz Stadium project. This $1.6 Billion stadium hosts NFL Football and MLS Soccer events in a state-of-the-art facility. At this project, IBM served as the “IT Prime Contractor,” responsible for end-to-end success of the network — from the physical conduit and fiber optic cabling through system integration, configuration, test, and go-live. The end results can be seen most Sunday nights this football season!
Ben is a 16-year IBMer, and holds a degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer in Troy, NY and holds a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification. He currently resides in Milton, Pennsylvania with his wife and 2-year-old son.