Basketball – Page 13

NBA stadium tech reports — NBA West, Pacific Division

May 18, 2015 by Paul Kapustka 1 Comment

Editor’s note: The following team-by-team capsule reports of NBA stadium technology deployments are an excerpt from our most recent Stadium Tech Report, THE HOOPS AND HOCKEY ISSUE. To get all the capsules in one place as well as our featured reports, interviews and analysis, download your free copy of the full report today.

Reporting by Chris Gallo

NBA WEST: Pacific Division

Golden State Warriors
Oracle Arena
Seating capacity: 19,596
Wi-Fi: Yes (185 APs)
DAS: Yes

The Warriors have the oldest home court in the NBA as Oracle Arena opened almost a half century ago. The age hasn’t stopped Golden State from making upgrades to the arena in the past few seasons with Wi-Fi and DAS available. (In fact, the Wi-Fi network is currently undergoing upgrade during this season). The Warriors are also out front with beacons, now in the second generation of using the technology to power features like store discounts and seat upgrades. The Warriors also remain one of the recognized leaders in all sports in social media outreach.

Los Angeles Clippers
Staples Center
Seating capacity: 19,060
Wi-Fi: Yes
DAS: Yes

While the Clippers went through an eventful summer last year, the Staples Center was busy improving the fan experience. The 15-year-old facility completed a new LED sports lighting system to the tune of nearly $7.5 million. The conversion to LED lighting allows the Staples Center to save an estimated $280,000 annually in energy costs. Those savings combined with Wi-Fi and DAS deployment from Verizon, help new owner Steve Ballmer in his pursuit to make the Clippers a championship franchise. (Which will have to wait until next year.)

Los Angeles Lakers
Staples Center
Seating capacity: 18,997
Wi-Fi: Yes
DAS: Yes

While there wasn’t much to cheer about on the court this season, Los Angeles Lakers fans still benefited from sharing the Staples Center with multiple professional franchises. The Wi-Fi and DAS systems are among the best in the NBA, and more improvements are scheduled for the arena. The latest planned renovation is a retractable seating system to help the Staples Center more easily complete almost 150 doubleheader games each year between the Lakers, Clippers, LA Kings, and Sparks.

Phoenix Suns
US Airways Center (Talking Stick Resort Arena)
Seating capacity: 18,422
Wi-Fi: Yes (300+ APs)
DAS: Yes (325 antennas)

Verizon and the Phoenix Suns agreed to a long-term extension this fall to make the arena fan-friendly for years to come. Verizon plans to install beacons, and allow fans to keep tickets and arena credit in a “wallet” directly on their mobile devices. The upgrades will coincide with a name change of the arena. A Phoenix-area tribe purchased the naming rights in December. With its new moniker, Talking Stick Resort Arena will take over the rights from the US Airways for the 2015-16 season.

Sacramento Kings
Sleep Train Arena
Seating capacity: 17,317
Wi-Fi: Yes (90+ access points)
DAS: Yes

The Sacramento Kings broke ground on their new $477 million downtown arena this fall. The franchise plans to open the new arena in time for the 2016 season, and to make a splash in stadium technology. The Kings are aiming to have more per capita connectivity than the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium. Bold. And to prepare for the new arena, Sacramento is using the aging Sleep Train Arena to experiment with new technologies. In limited pockets, the Kings took advantage of their partnership with SignalShare to make the team app more location-specific and gather data of fans’ habits that will be useful for the opening of the new arena.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Basketball, DAS, Golden State Warriors, NBA, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, DAS, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Mobile Sports Report, NBA, Oracle Arena, Stadium Wi-Fi, Staples Center

NBA stadium tech reports — NBA West, Northwest Division

May 14, 2015 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Reporting by Chris Gallo

NBA WEST: Northwest Division

Denver Nuggets
Pepsi Center
Seating capacity: 19,155
Wi-Fi: No
DAS:Yes

The Denver Nuggets rely on DAS to help fans stay connected at games. As the Pepsi Center turns 16 years old this year, there are no immediate plans to add fan-facing Wi-Fi to the arena. No Wi-Fi means it’s no surprise the Nuggets rank towards the bottom of the league in home attendance.

Minnesota Timberwolves
Target Center
Seating capacity: 19,356
Wi-Fi: No
DAS:Yes

Still no Wi-Fi available at the Target Center. But the city of Minneapolis and the franchise are working toward an estimated $97 million renovation that would be sure to include ways to improve the experience for the fans. Any connectivity upgrades would be welcomed, as the arena enters its 25th year of existence. Maybe Kevin Garnett can help hang some APs as part of his return?

Oklahoma City Thunder
Chesapeake Energy Arena
Seating capacity: 18,203
Wi-Fi: Yes
DAS:Yes

Oklahoma City installed new video boards and reconfigured suites as part of an estimated $2.4 million worth of upgrades this offseason. The updates are a nice compliment for fans, who can connect to Wi-Fi and DAS in Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Portland’s Moda Center, home of the NBA Trail Blazers. Credit all photos: Moda Center (click on any photo for a larger image)

Portland Trail Blazers
Moda Center
Seating capacity: 19,980
Wi-Fi: Yes
DAS:Yes

Owner Paul Allen delivered on a $16 million renovation plan this season, bolstering Wi-Fi and DAS in the Moda Center for years to come. It’s now easier for fans to view highlights during home games from the team’s mobile app.

Utah Jazz
EnergySolutions Arena
Seating capacity: 19,911
Wi-Fi: No
DAS:Yes

The Utah Jazz partnered with Boingo Wireless last spring to deliver a modern Distributed Antenna System to EnergySoultions Arena. The neutral DAS system is a major upgrade for fans and the 24-year-old facility. While Wi-Fi is not yet present in the arena, the franchise is patiently evaluating its needs to make it available in the future.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Basketball, DAS, NBA, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, DAS, Mobile Sports Report, NBA. Moda Center, Portland Trail Blazers, Stadium Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi

RootMetrics debuts tests of cell service inside stadiums

May 12, 2015 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Screen shot of RootMetrics reporting app.

RootMetrics, a Bellevue, Wash.-based concern that has made a name for itself by conducting tests of wireless services in cities and airports across the nation, is now starting to test wireless networks in sports stadiums, which may give fans a heads-up on how their provider is performing inside stadium walls.

Though it only has visited a handful of arenas so far, RootMetrics eventually plans to test more than 100 stadiums this year, according to the company. For each venue, RootMetrics sends an unspecified number of testers to track data performance of the top four wireless carriers in the U.S., a list that includes AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile. RootMetrics’ venue testers also check performance of the internal Wi-Fi network if one is available, but it does not let Wi-Fi compete for its “RootScore Award,” which it bestows upon the carrier with best performance in the combined categories of speed and “data reliability,” basically a measurement of the ability to make and hold a connection during any wireless data request or action.

RootMetrics also doesn’t take into account whether or not any of the carriers has preferential deals inside a venue, which may give that provider a leg up on the competition. For its report on the Staples Center, for instance, RootMetrics gives its award to Verizon, which is not surprising to us since Verizon built both the Wi-Fi and the DAS network at the facility. But RootMetrics makes no mention of the business agreements at Staples or anywhere else, which is by design, according to the company.

Why can’t Wi-Fi win?

RootMetrics CEO Bill Moore said in a recent phone interview that such details about contracts and preferred suppliers really don’t matter to consumers — what really matters, he said, is how well each carrier performs in the venue.

While the “scoreboard” mentality does perform a service by presenting just what data the testers find, the RootMetrics venue surveys have some gaps that may need to be filled or changed in the future to present a fully accurate picture of stadium network performance. One big reporting gap is the fact that RootMetrics doesn’t use any iOS devices in its stadium tests, a strange omission since most stadium networks say they still see a majority of iPhones among the devices being used on stadium networks. RootMetrics also seems to unfairly leave Wi-Fi networks out of the scoring, even though in many cases so far the local Wi-Fi networks far outperform the carrier cellular links.

Screen shot of RootMetrics’ test results for the Moda Center in Portland.

For Portland’s Moda Center, for instance, RootMetrics gives its RootScore award to Verizon, since in their testing Verizon was found to have better data reliability and better data speeds than the other cellular carriers. But the stadium’s in-house Wi-Fi network was 3 Mbps faster than Verizon on the download side and more than five times faster than Verizon on the upload side — yet Wi-Fi wasn’t mentioned in the venue “scores” and only got a footnote at the bottom of the results page.

Founded in 2008, RootMetrics has (apparently) built a good business in its chosen field, since it was acquired last month by the Englewood, Colo.-based IHS, a large information and analytics concern that recorded $546 million in revenue for its most recent quarter.

In the industry, RootMetrics is well known for its wireless coverage performance map and its “RootScores,” which attempt to determine winners and losers in the wireless service game for major U.S. metropolitan areas and the nation’s busiest airports. The basic RootMetrics premise is that they measure exactly what service levels consumers see in real life, providing an independent way for customers to evaluate services in a given area. While consumers can see the high-level results of its tests — which include both internal testing as well as data “crowdsourced” from consumers who download the RootMetrics reporting app — RootMetrics also sells its information directly to carriers and other infrastructure providers.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Android, Apple, AT&T, Basketball, DAS, iOS, iPhone, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, cellular service inside stadiums. AT&T, DAS, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, RootMetrics, Sprint, Stadium Wi-Fi, stadium wireless networks, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

NBA stadium tech reports — NBA East, Southeast Division

May 10, 2015 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Reporting by Chris Gallo

NBA EAST: Southeast Division

Atlanta Hawks
Philips Arena
Seating capacity: 18,118
Wi-Fi: Yes
DAS: Yes

Philips Arena features a different kind of video board this season. The court. That’s right, the Hawks are using a 3D projection system to display video on the hardwood and create an experience fans can’t find anywhere else. Atlanta can even use the projection system to bring tweets and Instagram posts from fans on the floor. Imagine seeing your selfie on the court, how cool is that?

The experience is even better after Boingo Wireless outfitted the 16-year-old facility with Wi-Fi and a robust neutral DAS system. The upgrades couldn’t have come at a better time given how the Hawks are performing on the court this season.

Charlotte Hornets
Time Warner Cable Arena
Seating capacity: 19,077
Wi-Fi: Yes (120+ antennas)
DAS: Yes (524 antennas)

With a not-so new name, the Charlotte Hornets continue to benefit from having a cable giant’s name on the front of their arena. The franchise plans to make Time Warner Cable Arena a bigger attraction in the future, and it should have no trouble as the city of Charlotte approved an estimated $33 million renovation project over the next decade. The buzz is indeed back.

Miami Heat
American Airlines Arena
Seating capacity: 19,600
Wi-Fi: No
DAS: Yes

The Miami Heat depend on a powerful Distributed Antenna System (DAS) to keep fans connected during home games at American Airlines Arena. There’s no fan-facing Wi-Fi in the arena yet, but it’s something the franchise is considering for the future, possibly first in a new bar/gathering area attached to the arena. Despite losing LeBron James to free agency, fans are still finding their ways to games, as the Heat rank in the top 10 in the league in attendance this season.

Orlando Magic
Amway Center
Seating capacity: 18,846
Wi-Fi: Yes
DAS: Yes

Orlando Magic in action at Amway Center. Credit: Orlando Magic

Only in its fifth year, the Amway Center is still one of the newest arenas in the NBA. Orlando partnered with AmpThink last year to give its Wi-Fi and DAS coverage a boost. This season, the Magic have joined forces with Chase and E15 Group to be one of the first NBA teams to incorporate Apple Pay into their home arena. Fans were able to make concessions and retail purchases from their phones throughout the arena.

Washington Wizards
Verizon Center
Seating capacity: 20,356
Wi-Fi: Yes
DAS: Yes

Mobilitie brought upgrades to the Verizon Center’s Wi-Fi and DAS systems over the past year, and it’s helping the Wizards connect with fans. Already with free iPhone and Android mobile apps, the Wizards released a native iPad app to help encourage fans to use the franchise’s digital ticketing system. And as a unique thank you to fans, the Wizards placed over 3,000 names of season ticket holders in the baseline logo of the Verizon Center’s court. Nice touch, Wizards.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Atlanta Hawks, Basketball, DAS, NBA, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, Atlanta Hawks, DAS, Mobile Sports Report, NBA, Paul Kapustka, Stadium Wi-Fi, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi

Final Four final score: 11 Terabytes of total wireless traffic

April 27, 2015 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

We finally have some final wireless results in from the Final Four, and the total wireless-traffic number of 11 terabytes used over the weekend is just another sign that mobile device use at “big” sporting events is still increasing, with no top in sight.

According to figures sent to us by Ryan Marketing Group Technologies — an official outlet for the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament tech operations — there was 9.47 terabytes of wireless data used over the Final Four weekend in and around Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, with 5.3 TB of that running over the stadium’s Wi-Fi network and the balance running on the building’s DAS. According to Ryan Marketing Group they believe the DAS numbers only reflect Verizon Wireless customer traffic (we have asked Verizon to confirm the numbers, but have not yet received a response from Verizon). The NCAA numbers also include usage for attendees at the accompanying Fan Fest events, in addition to the Saturday and Monday night games.

Separately, AT&T had said that it saw 1.52 TB of cellular traffic on its own DAS for the Final Four games, so adding the figures together we get 10.99 TB of total data, a number that should give pause to stadiums or arenas with “big events” on the horizon. Following huge wireless traffic numbers from recent big events like the Super Bowl and the College Football Playoff championships, it’s clear that there is still no plateau in sight for mobile-device wireless usage at big events. And just when you thought networks might be able to keep pace with users, devices and apps, you have the recent emergence of livestreaming apps like Meerkat and Periscope to potentially swamp arena networks with even more data demands. So, big event holders… what’s in your network? Is it ready for the terabyte age?

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Basketball, DAS, Duke University, NCAA Hoops, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, Final Four, Lucas Oil Stadium, March Madness, NCAA, NCAA Basketball, NCAA Tournament, Stadium Wi-Fi, Verizon Wireless

NBA stadium tech reports — NBA East, Central Division

April 22, 2015 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Reporting by Chris Gallo

NBA EAST: Central Division

Chicago Bulls
United Center
Seating capacity: 20,917
Wi-Fi: Yes
DAS:Yes

The Chicago Bulls are atop the NBA in attendance this season, as the United Center benefits from recent upgrades from AT&T. These upgrades included an estimated 400 Wi-Fi antennas to keep Bulls and Blackhawks fans connected. And recently, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and United Center owners announced construction of a new, standalone office building next to the United Center.

The office building will house Blackhawks and Bulls’ employees, as well being the home for retail stores for both teams and a variety of restaurants. The space will encourage more economic development and be a draw for fans before and after games.

Cleveland Cavaliers
Quicken Loans Arena
Seating capacity: 20,562
Wi-Fi: Yes
DAS:Yes

After welcoming home LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers are working to make the Quicken Loans Arena more social in 2015. The arena partnered with TigerLogic Corp. to install four corner board social media displays. TigerLogic’s Postano Platform shares updates from fans and advanced statistics during games.

The Cavaliers estimate an average of 20,000 posts per game are being shared, and connecting to the system is easier for fans with Verizon Wi-Fi and DAS throughout the arena. Plus, owner Dan Gilbert unveiled a new 5,500-square-foot LED HD scoreboard at the beginning of the season. With one of the best players in the NBA and arena upgrades, no wonder Cleveland’s attendance is up almost 20 percent from last year.

The Palace at Auburn Hills. Credit all photos, Palace at Auburn Hills (click on any photo for a larger image).

Detroit Pistons
The Palace of Auburn Hills
Seating capacity: 21,165
Wi-Fi: Yes
DAS:Yes

At a home game in March 2015, lots of Pistons fans found themselves with a dilemma. With the Pistons on the floor and the Michigan Wolverines making a deep NCAA Tournament run, fans wanted to watch both games. No problem, thanks to 238 Wi-Fi access points and DAS throughout The Palace of Auburn Hills. Outfitted by Ericsson, Detroit’s network carried over 450 GB of traffic at the home game last March with fans seamlessly streaming video from their phones. The Pistons also have a mobile app featuring beaconing technology for in-game discounts, a streaming radio broadcast, and digital menu boards. The Palace certainly lives up to its name of royalty when it comes to stadium connectivity.

Indiana Pacers
Bankers Life Fieldhouse
Seating capacity: 18,165
Wi-Fi: Yes, 346 access points
DAS:Yes

Now with a full deployment from SignalShare, Bankers Life Fieldhouse is a clear example of how Wi-Fi can benefit everyone – fans, sponsors, and the franchise. When the Pacers were making another deep playoff run last season, RetailMeNot sponsored the SingalShare Wi-Fi network delivering fans downloadable coupons for a free milkshake at a near by Steak ‘n Shake. A sponsor sees a return on their investments, the Pacers bring in more revenue, and fans feel rewarded for being at the game.

With multiple events hosted at the arena including Disney on Ice, WNBA’s Indiana Fever home games, and the Big 10 women’s and men’s conference basketball tournaments, there’s plenty of fans coming in and out of the arena. The Pacers personnel are able to observe fans’ habits and use that information to make much more relevant offers to them in the future. The team’s official app for both iPhone and Android has also increased in functionality with 346 Wi-Fi access points throughout the arena courtesy of Extricom.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Basketball, DAS, NBA, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, Chicago Bulls, DAS, Detroit Pistons, Mobile Sports Report, NBA, Stadium Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi

NBA stadium tech reports — NBA West, Pacific Division

NBA WEST: Pacific Division

NBA stadium tech reports — NBA West, Northwest Division

NBA WEST: Northwest Division

RootMetrics debuts tests of cell service inside stadiums

Why can’t Wi-Fi win?

NBA stadium tech reports — NBA East, Southeast Division

NBA EAST: Southeast Division

Final Four final score: 11 Terabytes of total wireless traffic

NBA stadium tech reports — NBA East, Central Division

NBA EAST: Central Division

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