We’re hearing alot about how the ‘smart stadium’ will help increase athlete performance, gameplay, referee and coaching calls and more.
What about the fan experience? Sports fans are demanding a much more engaging, immersive experience than ever before. That means that sports marketing is shifting to be more lifestyle and entertainment orientated.
As smart stadiums go mainstream, they need to take this into consideration because fans will want to know how they will benefit from all the new sports stadium technology.
Starting with parking and accessibility the fan can expect real-time slot availability and pre-booking through an app.
Next, they can expect seat navigation (and even upgrades), service-to-seat for those hot dogs and Cokes, mcommerce purchase of team gear and more. Real-time contests and promotions will be commonplace.
But best of all will be media streaming, athlete tracking, live statistics and voting, plus instant replays. And full social media capabilities with fan and club sites, as well as Twitter and Facebook, of course.
Municipalities around the world are betting a ton of capital on these new smart stadiums to attract and keep both fans and tenants. They’re up against some difficult stats that show the next generations (millennials and GenZ) may be tech-savvy but they may not want to deal with stadium hassles and might not show up at all.
Or they’re off to e-sports events, which is a whole other topic for next time.
Beverly is the author of the best selling book The Power of Real-Time Social Media Marketing. She also teaches the Business of Media, Entertainment & Sports at UCLA Anderson School of Management and is a thought leader in business strategy, IoT, big data and digital media trends.