In a sport desperate to stay relevant with a group of people that increasingly don’t care about baseball, MLB stadiums have increased their focus on engaging that younger fan base, leading to an extra shot of technology into America’s pastime – for fans and the front office.
Expanding from Sportvision’s work, Statcast provides detailed analytics for pitches, batted balls, base running, and fielding. This has allowed, not only for expanded fan usage on outlets like MLB Gameday, but the expanded analytics have also added an entirely new element to player development.
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Apple has also gotten involved as well, integrating their iBeacon technology into over 20 stadiums as of the 2014 season. iBeacon technology, coupled with the MLB At the Ballpark app works to send customized offers to fans on their smartphone based on their micro-location data – even offering seat upgrades.
This level of technology is now fairly standard across the league – but what isn’t standard? Stadiums have incorporated their own unique touches of technology, hoping to set their stadium apart from the pack. The Atlanta Braves hope to do just that with the development of their new stadium, set to open in 2017. SunTrust Park aims to the be the most connected park in the country, allowing fans to do everything from post to social media to stream video in an environment that not too long ago, fans would’ve been hard-pressed to even place a call.
Comcast is partnering with the Braves on the 60-acre mixed-use development, investing $100 million in the project and locating their Central Division headquarters within a homerun’s distance of home plate. Comcast is planning to implement an all-fiber network, promising multi-gigabit speed on gameday. The speeds will be supported by 20,000 fiber connections split across two data centers, all backed by dual 400 megawatt generators.
This is good news for everyone involved. Fans should be more than satisfied to use their phones to check stats, post to social media, and watch video; while it will give the Braves organization greater room to capitalize on the fan experience with things like gameday promotions, social media exposure, and personalized instant replay. As things often happen in the world of professional athletics, this too, could one day be an expected feature of MLB parks across the country. For now, it’s what will potentially make SunTrust Park the most connected and technologically advanced stadium in the country when it opens.