BBVA Stadium, which is home to Major League Soccer team Houston Dynamo and National Women’s Soccer League’s Houston Dash, has made a technological leap by being the first stadium in the league to turn on wi-fi 6 connectivity.
With more fans using connected devices to enjoy in-stadium experienced, the offering of a high-density, professional-grade wi-fi network is helping to attract fans to live games rather than watch at home.
Deployed by Extreme Networks, wi-fi 6 helps create the opportunity to enable mobile ticketing and wireless food ordering today as well as potential future innovations such as augmented and virtual reality that will make fans feel like they are on the field.
The benefits of wi-fi 6 is that it can deliver four times greater network capacity compared with previous generation technology, and is designed for coverage in challenging and dense environments such as a sports stadium. It can therefore support the growing number of data hungry devices and bandwidth hogging applications.
Good news for sports reporters is that it has sufficient capacity to segment the network so media can seamlessly upload large image and video files in real time, without jitter or latency and without impacting operations or fan experience.
“We’re continually investing in and improving the fan experience at BBVA Stadium, and reliable wi-fi connectivity during games is table stakes for our dynamic millennial fan base. But as we look to add more devices and digital capabilities, we need a cutting-edge network that can both support greater wi-fi bandwidth and capacity needs and give us the freedom to innovate. By deploying Extreme Networks wi-fi 6 access points, we will have the ability to scale our network and support forward-looking digital initiatives that will cement our reputation as a leading destination for major league soccer in the country,” John Walker, president of business operations, Houston Dynamo and Houston Dash.
