Going to a sports game will never be the same. We used to arrive at the stadium, search for parking, grab a drink, maybe a hotdog and foam finger before we found our seats. We’ll get up once or twice, at the risk of missing a great play, to get another drink or go to the bathroom.
That’s a thing of the past. With new technology, we get alerts to our phones telling us where to park even before arriving at the venue, we can order drinks and food directly to our seats, and the jumbotrons seem to have grown to larger than life. Over the last decade alone our experience at the game has completely changed, and these technologies are the ones leading the way.
Fanpics
Generations Y and Z are often regarded as the most self-absorbed generations, mostly because of the rise of the selfie. Well, San Diego-based company Fanpics, is trying to use the selfie and our obsession with technology to their advantage. Fanpics’ technology “captures images of every fan celebrating during key moments in sports, just enter your seat number into our app and all of the candid photos from the game are yours.”
How does it work? Fanpics has a series of robotic cameras located strategically throughout the venues to capture every moment. Fans can then log into the application using their seat number, linking them to the cameras. One camera operator watches the action, and snaps pictures at key moments throughout the game. The process is so quick that fans can view the photos within 30 seconds of the camera snapping the image.
Fanpics Co-Founder Marco Correia says they are trigger happy, and that “for every 70 moments captured, we may publish between 20-30 each game.”
The technology is already used in the STAPLES Center in LA and at the StubHub Center, capturing reactions to everything from buzzer beaters to let downs, and it’s all at the fan’s fingertips.
Why does this make a difference for fans? For one, you can stop playing with your phone during the game to get the perfectly timed photo, and instead actually pay more attention to what is happening on the court or ice.
Uphoria
Sporting Kansas City does not want you to miss a single second of the game. In fact, they want you to experience your favorite moment of the game over, and over and over again, as many times as you please and from your own phone.
Sporting KC built a mobile DVR app called Uphoria, which every fan at the stadium can access. The application offers live-streaming video, playback, match information including box scores, live stats and player bios. You can sit just meters from the action and still watch playbacks, and control them yourself, as if from you’re watching from your couch. Fans can also access My SKC Cam, a camera app with KC-themed overlay, so fans can share their favorite moments with a KC touch.
But those are not the only things the app offers, it also has:
- Ticket information, and the ability to purchase tickets
- Integration for facebook and Twitter
- Maps of the venue
- Trivia for chances to win prizes
- Personalized offers
- Notifications for important news and content involving the team
VenueNext
VenueNext’s technology may still be considered relatively young, but it’s already making a huge impact. For VenueNext, It’s all about making things easier for all parties involved in the game experience. The company, who first partnered with the San Francisco 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium in 2014, created an app that is as useful for fans as it is the franchize and venue.
With their tech, fans can get faster access to parking and tickets with their mobile kiosk, they have access to a “handheld jumbotron,” which lets fans watch replays from different angles on the app and even has an express line for food services, so fans can order ahead of time and just walk over to pick up their food, without the wait.
As for the venue, it can follow what fans purchase, send them notifications of merchandise on sale and where they can buy it and you can notify attendees about parking spots that are open.
They’ve since expanded, and are now partners with Churchill Downs, the Orlando Magic, the Minnesota Vikings, the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys.
