Newly-promoted Championship football club Wycombe Wanderers has teamed up with Landways to build and operate a new digital infrastructure at Adams Park.
Wycombe announced the plans to modernise its match-day experience before the club secured promotion to the Championship with a 2-1 victory over Oxford United yesterday (Monday). Next season will mark Wycombe’s first time in the second tier of English football.
Wycombe’s deal with Landways, which specialises in digital infrastructure and Wi-Fi solutions, comes following the Couhig family’s recent acquisition of 75 per cent of shares in the club. The new digital infrastructure at Adams Park will initially be used to support a high-density, stadium-wide Wi-Fi system.
Plans are also being drawn up to use Landways’ innovative fibre and power infrastructure to deploy new large digital screens, pitch-side advertising panels and a new audio system. A further 65 high-quality screens will be supplied by Vestel to enhance the experience for fans, sponsors and corporate guests.
Landways’ infrastructure will also help make Adams Park a safe environment as clubs deal with the risks posed by COVID-19. New services will include digital ticketing, cashless payments and other new content.
Wycombe chairman Rob Couhig said: “Coming from the US, where investment in digital technology at sports venues has been going on for several years, we knew that there was a big opportunity to deliver the same benefits to the fans and sponsors of Wycombe Wanderers and this was one of our considerations when we invested in the club.
“I believe in the power of digital technology to improve customer experience, reduce costs and help businesses grow. We have big plans for Wycombe Wanderers and the current COVID-19 crisis has not deflected us from our long-term ambitions. Whether we are engaging with the club’s fans when they are at home, on the move, or coming to the stadium, we believe that digital technology presents us with many options to improve that relationship, deliver better service and keep our loyal fans engaged.
“When we came to the UK, we visited a number of other clubs to see how their digital systems were performing. We were amazed to find that most clubs had no viable way for fans to connect with them when they were at the ground with local mobile networks overloaded and the few existing Wi-Fi systems providing either very poor or no service at all. Landways was the only business that was able to demonstrate to us that they could deliver a high-speed, reliable service which not only compares well with the best US systems, but actually exceeds them. They are a natural fit with our ambitions, and we look forward to working with them.”
Landways chief executive Chris Smedley added: “We share a common view that it will soon become essential for sports clubs to use digital technology to engage with and get to know their fans: a trend that the COVID-19 crisis will accelerate. This can only be done with modern, flexible digital infrastructure, something which Landways specialises in.
“Under our Infrastructure as a Service proposition, Landways is putting up all the capital investment in these new systems, in return for a long-term partnership with the club to help them align costs with new revenues and achieve their ambitions for a fantastic fan experience at Adams Park.”
Adams Park has a capacity of around 10,000 and has served as Wycombe’s home since opening in 1990.
Image: DipsyDave/Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)/Edited for size
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