Getting good reception
inside bunkerlike stadiums
is challenging. When Kansas City’s park was constructed in 2011, CIO Asim
Pasha had Cisco install 30
miles of fiber-optic wire
and 200 routers. The result,
dubbed HD- WIFI, creates a
strong signal anywhere,
plus enough bandwidth for
20,000 fans to download
or upload all they want
without interruption.
SEAT CHECK-INS
QR codes on seats allow
fans to check in and reveal
their location for meet-ups
or bragging rights. This
season, members of KC’s
in-house social network,
Sporting Club, will be able
to add a credit card to
their account and use it to
place pickup orders for
team swag or food. The
utility will be incentivized
with points redeemable
online or at the stadium.
FOO T TRAFFIC
Pasha tracks cell-phone
signals to learn more about
fan movement around the
venue. That info is sold to
stadium design firms such as
Populous, generating more
revenue. Pasha’s team also
monitors which handsets are
most popular—valuable data
for phone companies.
FIELD
OF PLAY
MLS club Sporting Kansas City knows not every one
of its matches will be an instant classic. That doesn’t
mean it can’t still keep fans entertained.
BY BEN PAYN TER
Just a few years ago, Asim Pasha was a top executive at a medical
technology firm. Today, his office is a skybox. As the chief information
officer for Sporting Kansas City, he sits amid a cluster of computer
terminals watching the action unfold in Livestrong Sporting Park.
But he’s not looking at the field. To help fans connect in real time,
Pasha has created games within the game: a series of mobile apps
and social-networking options that boost team spirit—and drive more
ticket and merch sales.
“It’s all about making sure a fan has an enjoyable experience,
regardless of what happens in the game,” explains Joe Favorito, a sports-marketing consultant and professor at Columbia University. Do that
and fans will keep buying hot dogs, blowout be damned. Pasha’s crew
is at the forefront of the philosophy. Other organizations . . . aren’t. Over
the past three years, Cisco has outfitted more than 30 sports complexes
with tech elements similar to those found at Livestrong. So far, most
teams are only using them to augment traditional moneymakers,
hawking unsold seats via text discounts or offering apps with directions
to the nearest concession stand.
Sporting Kansas City wants to show them the way. Last year, the
club launched Sporting Innovations, a consultancy designed to help
teams across sports refine their live digital and mobile experiences. (SI
has several contracts pending.) This is the example it’s setting at home.
