Our 2013 NFL Tech Series provides a quick hit of tech insight on all 32 NFL teams up until kickoff of Week 1 of the regular season. Each feature includes the latest tech advances implemented by the organization in the effort to advance the team’s success… in a wide variety of venues. Stadium experience, fan engagement, mobile technologies, player performance and health, statistical data gathering and analysis… any and all aspects of the organization’s procedures in the effort to find success in the NFL is on the table. We’re uncovering those efforts, investigating those innovations and pondering the benefit they might provide, for the team, players and fans alike… today and looking forward.
Today’s focus is on the Chicago Bears as they look to increase their stadium bandwidth as well as their latest efforts in making new Soldier field “green”.
The NFC North is a bear of a division. Top to bottom, these four teams foresee themselves being in position to claim a playoff spot by season’s end. Each of them have made strides during the offseason to improve the product on the field. These last couple of years, the Chicago Bears have been in somewhat of a lull after just missing out on a Super Bowl berth had it not been for Jay Cutler’s unfortunate injury in the NFC Championship. Their most recent changes have been in the front office and on the sidelines with General Manager Phil Emery and Head Coach Marc Trestman, respectively.
While there’s some uncertainty how the Bears will respond to this new leadership, the organization has made a commitment towards technological advancements. All they had to do was take a cue from fellow Chicago-based innovator, Hank Adams, who’s widely known for the yellow line shown during football games on television. That invention, virtually by itself, has been one of the initial motivations towards shifting the in-venue experience.
“Sitting on the couch is winning right now. Teams are playing catch-up. They are behind the bandwidth desires of their fans,” Adams told Crain’s Chicago Business.
Bearing that in mind, the Bears began installing a DAS network two seasons prior alongside AT&T at Soldier Field. But new technology and demand moved faster than what they may have expected. By the time Week 1 rolls around, the Bears have had to upgrade this entire network in order to accommodate the LTE infrastructure for high-speed data transfers.
It was imperative for the third largest market in the country to keep up with the Jones’ and the times at hand. Chad Townes, AT&T’s Vice President of Antenna Solutions Group, mentioned that 75 percent of all pro sports teams have implemented this tech over the past three years alone. The Bears’ continued focus to make this service a reality serves as a utility benefit, mobile expansion opportunities, and catering to the fan.
“It’s about giving people a first-class experience digitally so that people can engage with team while they’re here. But, at the same time, we still have to create an environment that can only exist at the game,” said Soldier Field’s Director of Sponsorship and Media, Lucas Serra.
The key example that manifests these desired goals belongs to the Chicago Bears Mobile App. Several team executives informed SportTechie that there’s been close to half a million app downloads since it launched in December 2011. This platform’s total users surpass the team’s Twitter volume in similar fashion to that of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Thus, fans have received it well throughout this time, as evident by the four out of five stars review rating across the iOS, Android, and Blackberry App World ecosystems. The team acknowledged the one area with the biggest room for improvement in the app is better ad integration and one that’s less intrusive during content consumption, which would maintain value to their sponsors and not dissuade the fans’ experience.
Team executives elaborated further with regards to the app’s latest features and how some are exclusively activated at home games: “We are still in the process of adding features to the app for 2013 to take the user experience beyond article, video, and photo consumption, especially for those fans that are at Soldier Field on game days. Among the enhancements in the works are an interactive stadium concession and amenity map and integration of on-demand video replay from multiple camera angles, solely available in the stadium.”
Consequently, the DAS network setup proves to be a sustainable asset that is able to be monetized. Owning the rights to this tech offers the ability to shape the design to their respective needs and sell the usage among the various competing carriers. What’s particularly valuable in all this is the demographic and behavioral data from users on game days.
With just eight home games, big data lends itself to be perpetually invaluable. The Bears are also trying to cancel the almost two dollars Wi-Fi fee to their fans by sponsorship arrangements for the rights to this network, which would then make it available for free. These measures would only supplement an uptick of usage to the team’s mobile app, too.
“It’s become a significant revenue source. Carriers want to provide service to customers here, and they can up-sell those same customers to larger data plans,” said Serra with respects to the DAS.
Beyond the technological hardware and amenities, the Bears have placed themselves at the forefront of the greening movement. They’ve created a program called “Save Da Planet” to solidify their commitment to sustainability around these issues. In 2011, Soldier Field became the first NFL stadium to become completely LEED certified.
The team has since partnered with local organizations like Gateway Green and the Chicago Park District to build activities surrounding awareness. A business relationship that has emerged as a byproduct of these endeavors has been with Constellation Energy, whose a major producer of alternative energy. They have sponsored their “Save Da Planet” program and advised the team with energy saving options for their practice facility, Halas Hall.
The Bears executives added: “From a community standpoint, ‘Save Da Planet’ provided a terrific platform fan engagement and participation. The activation around ‘Save Da Planet’ offered opportunities for our fans to directly support environmental projects; such as adopting a tree that would planted in an underserved neighborhood in Chicago, helping to plant those trees and signing a pledge to become environmental leaders in their own neighborhoods.
We also included a player visit to a school, which helped raise awareness of the steps that school (and others) has taken to educate youth about the importance of sustainability and being environmentally conscious.”
Overall, the Chicago Bears have taken technological steps forward to enhance the fan experience at Soldier Field, from an economical and engagement standpoints. The connectivity improvements will allow second-screen activations more often. Their greening efforts address a local and global mission that sports franchises should be involved in.
Now that the Bears have these off-field improvements in motion, the big question becomes can Jay Cutler and the Bears answer the call to match these organizational endeavors on the field and make a run at the Super Bowl?