The stadium, or arena, for a long time a mecca for sports fans, is continually responding to consumer demands, notably the shift to digital experiences. Whether that be how direct-to-consumer (D2C) technologies are serving fans on the terraces, or the ways rights holders augment their physical commercial attributes online, the sports venues themselves are undergoing significant upgrades in the age of digital fandom.
For example, the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games is targeting a “digital legacy” within its sustainability agenda, including the use of digital twinning to make the running of the event’s venues more efficient and to enhance the fan experience. Meanwhile, cloud technology is being adopted to make the Games more accessible and sustainable by reducing the event’s broadcast footprint and enabling remote delivery for its media stakeholders.
Whereas today the proliferation of digital and social media is providing fans immediate access to the sports they want to watch, and a vehicle for rights holders to communicate directly with a global audience, digital transformation is also playing a part in how “smart” sports venues and their event organizers connect with their communities outside of the live sporting experience.
For example, German football club Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena stadium app allows users to switch between matchday and non-matchday modes, highlighting one example of how elite sports teams and their stadium operators are adopting mobile technology to cater multiple consumer functions. Elsewhere, the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Organising Committee (LA28) is collaborating with the City of Los Angeles to strengthen the democratization of digital resources throughout the city in the build-up and beyond the global event. LA28 works closely with the City of Los Angeles as part of its SmartLA 2028 program, which focuses on the city’s modernization through 2028, including the implementation of frictionless experiences for fans visiting the city during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, such as ticketless access to venues and mobile-friendly travel and transport.
The evolution of the stadium and sporting infrastructure depends on its adaptability. Broadly speaking, how stadium owners choose to modernize their physical assets to include modern technologies presents multiple challenges for non-scalable, single-use stadia; challenges which vary grossly from one venue to another, in the way they serve the local demographic beyond sports and based on the maturity of their respective markets.
In traditional markets where legacy, single-use sporting venues have been established for decades, upgrading the infrastructure to cater to demands of the digital fan is one of the foremost challenges. Tayomara Gama, Regional Sport Lead for the global architecture firm Gensler, says that “budget restraint is a prominent restriction to the modernization of legacy sports venues”, though the biggest barrier is often understanding “how stadium development serves their business objectives” and its “capacity to drive revenues while at the same time reducing operational costs”.
These are important focuses for stadium projects in emerging sports markets, too. However, whereas the upgrade of historic stadia infrastructure requires a deft touch, sports properties in regions with ambitions to grow their sporting infrastructure “own the capacity to develop truly scalable stadia, designed to serve their fans, stakeholders, and athletes for years to come”, and are well-placed to adapt to future technology trends – something maturer markets are looking to replicate.
“While the modernization of historic stadiums built on legacy systems can be costly, unlike emerging regions whose fan bases are a fraction of the size, traditional operators have been able to draw on a plethora of user data and fan feedback to map out the venue’s necessary upgrades and which ones their fans want stadium owners to prioritize,” Tayo continues.
“That starts with an ability to truly understand what the rights holder’s fans and stakeholders want from the stadium and knowing what data they need, the information that is already at their disposal, and to identify how changes can be applied to the stadium experience,” Tayo adds.
A MULTI-PHASE, DATA-INFORMED APPROACH GIVES STADIUM PROJECTS LONGEVITY
Data management and the ability to collect and ingest fan information is an important resource for improving the stadium experience. To achieve this, sports organizations are integrating new digital and data touchpoints that both enhance and provide greater insights into the in-stadia fan experience. They are bringing in the support of specialist digital transformation partners to help navigate this transition.
As a result, digitally sophisticated stadiums and their owners are heightening the rights holder’s commercial appeal while enriching the fan-stakeholder relationship. Meanwhile, digital offerings such as mobile ticketing and concessions advocate a frictionless, omnichannel fan experience. For existing single-use stadia, in order to understand where these opportunities lie, this process requires firstly a thorough assessment of the stadium owner’s digital capabilities, how they might be used across its physical infrastructure, and barriers that their venue’s legacy systems might be creating when it comes to augmenting the stadium’s commercial functions.
“Clubs and event organizers are advocating the development of smart stadia to enhance the fan experience and augment their revenue generation,” explains Hisham Shehabi, N3XT Sports Chief Operating Officer (COO). “As fans demand more digital experiences, sports properties must treat their stadium infrastructure like a digital asset, considering the overall data architecture before signing up vendors and tech providers that may be siloed. A full view of the fan journey is needed across all touchpoints in the venue, to improve their experience, operate efficiently and maximize revenue.
“A feasibility study conducted by companies such as Gensler, with the support of N3XT Sports, provides a comprehensive overview of a stadium’s technology stack, how it links to the organization’s other digital assets, and next steps for development. By consolidating how a stadium ingests and collates customer data offers the rights holders a grounding for understanding the in-stadium experience and clear focal points for making meaningful upgrades.”
Thereafter, major stadium projects undergo multi-phase developments mapped out to allow for future upgrades that align with consumer trends; some spanning decades to ensure that the stadium is given time and space to evolve with the times and to maximize their commercial uses. In emerging, highly ambitious markets, this approach is essential, too, with a thought to how stadiums will impact their communities today and during years to come. By way of example, the New Murabba Development Company published plans earlier this year for the development of a future-proof, multi-purpose football stadium in downtown Riyadh. The stadium plan is one of 11 submitted as part of Saudi Arabia’s 2034 men’s FIFA World Cup bid. According to reports, the stadium will leverage technology to create “an immersive and personalized fan experience”, and will be adapted for major events beyond sports, acting as a “vibrant community hub” after the tournament.
In general, MENA sports properties which are building stadia on a large scale “hold potential to reimagine the role of the stadium within the region’s rapidly changing urban landscape”, according to Tayomara. “Sports and entertainment can be a catalyst for change,” Tayo continues. “The stadium is an extension of the local economy, the industrial and commercial infrastructure, and can help re-generate local communities. Technology is being used to diversify the role of the stadium, the different sports and events it caters to, and how it engages the local demographic.”
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Gensler has delivered numerous projects that take on this approach, including ongoing upgrades to the AEG-owned Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) situated in the L.A. Live entertainment complex, in Downtown Los Angeles, which is home to a host of LA28 venues. The largest indoor sports and entertainment arena based in the city, and the only US venue which hosts four major professional sports franchises, Crypto.com Arena – which is planning for the next 20 years of its tenancy – is an example of how long-term stadium projects lay down foundations for future changes and development in established markets.
“The goal at the end of all of our multi-year renovation projects, including the Crypto.com Arena, Caesars Superdome, Mercedes Benz Stadium, and M&T Bank Stadium, to name a few, is to reinvigorate the human experience through all mediums. Improving a venue’s fit-and-finish, technology integrations, and overall ease and convenience can significantly impact the fan experience and extend the facility’s lifespan,” explains Ryan Sickman, the Global Lead of Gensler’s sports division. “The technological aspects of these improvements change faster than the experiential or generational expectations and thus we have to design for constant change and upgradability as we go.
“As far as what’s next, we are quickly seeing things becoming more and more customizable to fans’ experiential expectations such as specific audio enhancements, augmented reality features, and a new-to-market idea of parallel reality which will be in our venues very soon,” Ryan continues. “All of these technological advances are designed to cater to the ever-evolving demands of consumers to provide them what they want, when they want it and where they want to experience it.”
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Our team at N3XT Sports works tirelessly to develop and implement data and digital transformation strategies across a multitude of sports properties at federation level, competition level, and club level. To find out more about how N3XT Sports can serve your organization, or to access our workshops and webinars, fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch. Our goal is to drive the digitalization of the sports industry and our clients.