Major League Baseball Advanced Media has installed the micro-location technology called iBeacon that is found in Apple’s iOS operating system in the first two ballparks as part of project that expects to land the capabilities in a total of 20 sites this season.
The first two parks are Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and Petco Park in San Diego. The parks are filled with small iBeacon beacons that fans will be able to use via mobile devices that support the technology, which can be supported by Android devices as well as Apple’s. They will also need the upcoming version of the MLB.com At The Ballpark app when that is released sometime prior to Opening Day.
iBeacon is an indoor positioning system, operating much like the GPS that most users are familiar with but designed for a much more pinpoint location capability. With it a fan could conceivable find all of the different concessions, restrooms and other features of the park while sitting in their seat waiting for a break in play.
It also has the ability for the teams to tailor marketing to fans, from enabling social media check ins at specific locations in the park to showing them where items are on sale and since the technology includes point of sale capabilities a user could purchase items with their phone or tablet. Retailers and others are now starting to look at the technology as a way of engaging customers and keeping the in the stores.
Baseball demonstrated the capabilities of iBeacon with the New York Mets last season so that this move should not be a surprise. Baseball already includes the ability to upgrade seats and ordering food to At the Ballpark so the iBeacon capabilities are a natural extension.
MLBAM continues to keep baseball at the forefront of the digital world by constantly updating and enhancing the technologies and apps that fans use including apps that allow users to watch or listen to games on mobile devices and a number of contests and games over the course of the year to keep fans following the sport even in the offseason.
Football and basketball fall far behind baseball in terms of embracing next generation digital technology. The NFL is just now developing some digital capabilities and considering the resistance teams have put up in wiring their stadiums it might not see huge usage. Though most NBA stadiums have internal Wi-Fi for fans, few teams are actively promoting the service and there is no league-wide directive on wireless. Only Barclays Center in Brooklyn has expressed any interest in the iBeacon technology.
