With SunTrust Park ready to open for the 2017 season, the Atlanta Braves are placing an emphasis on helping fans navigate to and from the ballpark through a new partnership with Waze, it was announced Thursday.
The world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app will provide fans directions to the stadium and real-time traffic updates, complementing what is already being provided by Cobb County DOT from its control center.
The Atlanta Falcons and Hawks — through their relationships with Levy Restaurants and analytics subsidiary E15 — were also inaugural members of the Waze Global Event Partner Program, which kicked off last August with more than 20 partners.
E15, which was launched in 2014 and gives advanced analytics services to sports, entertainment, hospitality and retail organizations, collaborated with Waze and five other partners, including the Washington Redskins (FedEx Field), Detroit Lions (Ford Field) and Washington Nationals (Nationals Park).
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As part of the program, Waze provides its partners with unique access to traffic management technologies and communication platforms to help make commuting and parking easier for fans as they enter and exit various venues.
“If you’ve ever driven to a stadium on game day or gotten lost navigating around marathon routes, you know it can be a frustrating start to an anticipated event,” Orit Yehezkel, Head of Localization at Waze said in a statement last fall. “Through the Waze Global Event Partner Program, we are working directly with partners to alleviate this pain point for attendees, extending a quality event experience to include the roads and parking lots. Together we can optimize traffic flow to get attendees into venues more quickly, yielding happier fans and potentially greater revenue from concessions, meet-and-greets, souvenirs and more!”