Parking invariably presents problems to sports fans whenever attending a game. It’s something that has to be planned out beforehand, or risk finding a spot and dealing with traffic in the process. The cumbersome prices that escalate based on the event or arriving closer to tip-off makes it an unpleasant expenditure all the way around.
Even with a sundry of ride-sharing mobile options available in tech cities like San Francisco, the adoption rate for these services isn’t as high elsewhere. A startup such as Hitch offers travel efficiency through users’ big data could have legs as a preferred car pool method, with cheaper costs coming at the expense of potentially a longer trip. The vast majority of fans still haven’t flocked to them as a way to get to games. Public transportation remains largely untapped outside of, and including some, major markets as an ideal vehicle to use. Fans, inevitably, continue to resort to driving and parking their own cars instead.
This issue sparks a rather apparent opportunity to build something to disrupt this space. Parking, after all, is a $100 billion industry as a whole. There’s a lucrative niche to have a product solely dedicated to sporting stadiums and arenas.
In fact, this general concept was what propelled Los Angeles hackers, Team Pharker, to advance and ultimately win the On Deck Cup. They leveraged the APIs from Venmo and Twilio to create a prototype app that provides a solution. The former allowed them to have payment transactions for users, while the latter enabled texting applications for users to receive notification updates. The cross-integration of these capabilities supported the idea to sell one’s driveway near a venue in exchange for money. It would function as a facsimile of Airbnb during sporting events.
Still, external competition doesn’t take long to manifest itself and poach such a coveted market, much less something derived from a hackathon.
StadiumPark, a Rochester, New York-based startup, hopes to breakthrough among the incumbents with an app launching soon on both iOS and Android.
Similar to Team Pharker’s project, users will be able to purchase their parking, exclusively, though, within the parameters owned by stadium and arena operators. The app capacitates 3G and 4G wireless technology to help towards being able to open parking gates. These users will, thus, gain access to designated parking spots.
Its Founder, Jeremy Crane, has always been a serial entrepreneur. His career experiences have ranged from creating a used furniture business, to a prepaid mastercard company, to working in Chicago-based venture capital firm, Lightbank.
His most recent work, however, is what led him to develop StadiumPark and raise an initial round from close friends and family for it. At Pango USA, a pay-by-cell parking startup, he learned about municipality meter payments. The structure of this industry segment shed light to him that sporting venues only accepted cash as a form of parking payment. He also noticed that none of the competitors out there implemented the mobile wireless tech to let users open the parking gates. These two components comprise the main differentiators, he believes, that will “revolutionize” these parking properties across America.
When accessing the app at first, a user will have to sign-up and submit their payment information, be it PayPal or credit card. Both of these data points are funneled through card.io, which scans it. The app will then locate the venue nearby and the user can choose what lot to park in. Once the user pays, the parking gate opens and receive a receipt.
Another key aspect corresponding to this app would be the “EZ-Pass” lanes. This marked gateway work in conjunction with the stadium operators and intend to expedite traffic flow. Crane mentions that some of the logistics include signage and motioning to fans to use StadiumPark for “EZ-Pass” lane preference. This part will be heavily promoted around the vicinity.
In essence, the app aims to have reciprocal benefits for both the fans and operators. Fans wouldn’t have to make sure they bring cash for parking or concern themselves over long parking lines. For the operators, they’ll be able to better deal with cars coming in an efficient manner and reduce the shrinkage that’s common for high volumes of cash transactions.
Conversely, Crane explains the monetization model: “StadiumPark will charge its users a convenience fee between $0.99-$1.99, depending on the price of parking at each location. The stadium will not share in this revenue, and will not be charged any service fee from StadiumPark. We view stadium and arenas as partners.”
At the moment, however, they don’t plan to integrate with team or venue apps. Launching it silo would require more downloads independently as well as its discovery beforehand. And, on top of that, the venue operator will determine what lots are available, some of which are not owned by them. This reality could force another third-party to get involved for other adjacent parking spots.
Again, Crane mentions that other parking apps just either focus on reservations, municipality parking meters, or private garages. This deconcentration of parking pertaining solely for sporting venues opens the door to own this specific niche, particularly when these competitors are continually growing the overall market.
“I see rapid growth in this industry as new municipalities are constantly adopting the technology. In Washington D.C., about 40 percent of municipality meter payments are made through Parkmobile, a pay-by-phone parking app,” says Crane.
StadiumPark hopes to partner with all the professional sports leagues and collegiate venues in the long-term.
Still, in the short-term, suggesting fans to pay an additional $1 or $2 dollars “convenience” fee for already expensive parking could be a tough, entry barrier. Users must navigate through pre-existing parking avenues first before deciding to opt-in. The direct affiliation with the stadium operators will help for awareness. It may just depend on what marquee event is going on, and how impatient fans could get for them to then reach to this app as their parking destination.