Wembley Stadium will host the world’s first sporting event broadcasted live over 5G on Sunday in London: the EE Wembley Cup Final.
EE is a UK-based mobile network and internet provider owned by BT Sport. The event itself will feature four teams made up of soccer players who have gained notoriety through posting their skills on YouTube, plus retired professional players. The action will be broadcast live from Wembley Stadium via YouTube soccer influencer Spencer Owen’s channel, Hashtag United.
“5G will next season enable BT Sport to deploy the most advanced remote production of any broadcaster,” said Jamie Hindhaugh, chief operating officer at BT Sport, in a press release. “It will allow us to cover more live matches from more leagues and competitions, and to bring fans highlights action closer to the final whistle than has ever been done before in the UK.”
Last Wednesday, EE and BT Sport tested a live broadcast transmitted over 5G between Wembley and BT Sport’s production center in Stratford, East London.
“This trial is another showcase of what our 5G network can do, and is a big part of our continued investment in using 5G across the whole of BT Group,” said Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s consumer business, in the news release. “The EE Wembley Cup Final 2018 will be the world’s first live sporting event to be broadcast over 5G, and that’s part of our ongoing commitment to innovation for our customers.”
SportTechie Takeaway
As the next generation of telecommunication technology, 5G promises superior speed and lower latency compared top its predecessor 4G network. That is likely to appeal to sports broadcasters, leagues and teams, since sports coverage is one of few areas where fans still demand live content, and as more data is added to sports, the bandwidth requirement becomes greater. The Sacramento Kings recently partnered with Verizon to allow select fans to view a live game through virtual reality over a 5G connection.