Last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs broke a new single-sporting event wireless traffic record–of its own, at that–with over five Terabytes and upwards of 474 Gigabytes within AT&T’s network for the 290,000 fans in attendance–about 15.3 million social media posts and videos worth of mobile data consumption.
Considering that the venue has been around in Louisville, Kentucky since 1875, it’s unprecedented that such a landmark site can claim this distinction. Up until recently, it would be unfathomable for a fan attending Churchill Downs to receive an adequate signal on their smartphone–they would be better off placing a bet on any number of the stallions instead.
In somewhat, similar technological upgrade needs as the Daytona International Speedway, Churchill Downs Racetrack has undergone a major uplift in the last few years, where it’s made it possible to host guests and appease basic reception criteria.
According to Mobile Sports Report, the carriers attempted to address the connectivity problem through technology known as cellular towers on wheels (COWs) on site not too long ago. Both the stadium operators and carriers heard the connectivity complaints pile up. The COWs just couldn’t handle the traffic. The massive, spaced-out way of the track and its unique architectural design proved to be too daunting of a task for the COWs to suffice as a satisfactory solution for a long-term, requisite plan.
By 2013, Churchill Downs brought on Mobilitie, a California-based infrastructure provider, to lay the groundwork for the cellular makeover.
Mobilitie’s Senior Vice President of Wireless Solutions, Dana Tardelli, informs SportTechie that during their discussions with Churchill Downs, they indicated to them that they were interested in allowing all carriers to access the on-site network–a neutral host. Mobilitie has installed and managed neutral host networks in some of the most challenging environments, so they felt confident they possessed the right offering to suit their needs, especially for a venue of this scale.
By electing a neutral host network over an exclusive relationship with a carrier, the former relieves wireless carriers and facility operators from capital and operational resources pertinent to building and managing a wireless network. Thus, it protects their interests by deploying a common infrastructure that places fewer burdens on Churchill Downs.
“Most importantly, a neutral host provider offers the carriers and facility owners and manager a ‘no hassle’ experience; they work with one company (Mobilitie) rather than a handful of wireless competitors and vendors,” says Tardelli.
“We have the relationships and know the requirements for each carrier. Churchill Downs didn’t have to worry about full carrier participation or unique network requirements,” Tardelli continued.
With that being said, Mobilite only had a couple of months to install Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) before the 2013 Kentucky Derby. They managed to design and implement a DAS in merely 67 days that would serve the grandstands, Jockey Club suites and buildings, the Clubhouse building, including Millionaire’s Row, Sky Terrace, Finish-Line Suites, and the Mansion.
In 2014, Mobilitie more than doubled the size of the wireless network with 253 antennas and more than a million feet of fiber optic cable throughout the venue, including the entire infield and Rooftop Garden. What’s more, they designed transition zones from the parking lot into the racetrack, so that access to the DAS from the macro network would be seamless. As they continuously monitor and optimize the network, additional enhancements were made this year to ensure ubiquitous coverage and capacity at all times and everywhere throughout Churchill Downs.
During this process, the main challenge was designing a DAS network that would provide coverage and capacity needed to service more than 260,000 people who attend the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby races at Churchill Downs. The gambling areas, temporary suites, and the six main floors (including the basement) all needed to have optimal coverage and capacity; in total, that’s over 5 million square feet of coverage area. With over a million square feet of fiber optic cable and 271 antennas, their DAS network broke data traffic usage records consisting of two Terabytes of overall traffic and 180 Gigabytes of traffic within the peak hour leading up to the Derby (these figured are solely from AT&T users).
At the same time, maintaining the integrity of the Churchill Downs venue, itself, posed another challenge, given its historical stature. The balance to meticulously design the network for the best coverage possible along with keeping architectural rectitude was paramount to execute.
“First and foremost, we wanted to ensure that the Churchill Downs experience wasn’t inhibited for fans. We’re here to enhance it, not take away from it. We were very careful with antenna placement to ensure sightlines as well as the beauty of the facility,” says Tardelli.
“We had to be very creative and we collaborated very closely with the team at Churchill Downs. Mobilitie has designed and built networks through some fairly unique situations–think hotels that operate 24/7 or busy underground facilities–so our team came up with some pretty ingenious ways to work through the various challenges. Overall, the end result fit exactly what Churchill Downs and major wireless carriers wanted–and we saw it handle record traffic as a result,” Tardelli added.
Of course, mobile usage increases every year as more fans share their experiences in real-time.
With the robust network already built, Mobilitie didn’t perform major changes between 2014 and now. They evaluated where matters could be improved, conducted rigorous testing, and scenario planning to determine where they might enhance the network even further, adding some additional hardware to further strengthen coverage and capacity in certain areas.
Moreover, they added new antennas and remote units to reconfigure the area surrounding the main gate and the Rooftop Garden to better improve coverage. They also included new antennas throughout level one to augment the coverage there.
Therefore, to accommodate the Kentucky Derby this year, Mobilitie used the data and customer usage patterns from 2014 to enhance some areas, so that fans would have even more coverage and capacity available.
Limited Wi-Fi has been offered in the main building of Churchill Downs to encourage and support fans interested in the on-site mobile betting app. The neutral host, accordingly, enables all the carriers and its users to be democratized, rather than limitations that can transpire from a lead contractor provider of DAS.
Mobilitie wanted to make sure that the wireless carriers on the DAS are able to serve their customer base that attended the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby races, on top of providing them a smooth and all-encompassing wireless experience.
In the long-term, though, DAS and Wi-Fi technologies are not too different from each other, with the former sufficing for Churchill Downs’ purposes.
“DAS provides visitors with access to their carriers. A Wi-Fi installation puts all visitors on one network. Both serve visitors well, it just depends on what the budget and objectives are for the venue,” states Tardelli.