Our weekly tech round-up from the stadium and arena sector…
Technology company IBM has unveiled a series of new digital initiatives for this year’s Wimbledon tennis championships.
The new features, which have been co-created by IBM and the All England Lawn Tennis Club, include ‘Win Factors’, which will provide fans with an increased understanding of the elements affecting player performance.
‘Have Your Say’, a new interactive fan predictions feature, will also launch, allowing users to register their predictions for match outcomes on the Wimbledon app and Wimbledon.com.
Other features will include IBM Power Index with IBM Watson, an AI-powered analysis of player performance; and IBM Match Insights with IBM Watson, which uses AI to generate a player factsheet for main draw singles matches. Fans will also have access to personalised recommendations and highlights reels.
The Miami Dolphins NFL team has entered into a partnership with social payments platform CHEQ, which will provide mobile ordering services at Hard Rock Stadium.
CHEQ mobile ordering will be available throughout Hard Rock Stadium for the 2022 season and in-seat delivery will be available in select sections. CHEQ will also provide self-service kiosks in high-traffic locations to help reduce lines and wait times.
The partnership with CHEQ, which claims to be the world’s first social payments platform, is designed to reduce wait times and increase efficiency at Hard Rock Stadium.
Rival NFL team the Tennessee Titans has selected integrated payments and commerce technology provider Shift4 to process payments for its food and beverage concessions and retail sales at Nissan Stadium.
Shift4 will provide an end-to-end integrated payment solution across the venue, including the company’s VenueNext point-of-sale system, mobile ordering, and mobile wallet integration.
The technology will debut during the WWE Summerslam event on July 30. Shift4 will serve as the official payment processor for the Titans and Nissan Stadium.
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has agreed a deal with Panasonic, whose stadium lighting solution will be used during events organised by the governing body.
Panasonic provides a number of lighting products, including the FIBA-approved ground beam, stadium beam and OWL beam. The company’s stadium lighting solution has joined FIBA’s equipment and venue centre in the lighting category.
Panasonic will work in accordance with FIBA’s lighting requirements during the planning stage of stadium installations and use its original lighting calculation software to create lighting designs and meet each venue’s needs.
The Pittsburgh Penguins NHL franchise has partnered with Azena, an open platform and application store for smart cameras.
The Penguins will test Azena’s platform for smart cameras to explore ways to improve operational efficiencies throughout PPG Paints Arena. The team hopes to streamline wait times at busy concession stands on game days in real time and leverage enhanced retail analytics in its fan stores to increase arena retail stores.
Using Azena queue detection applications on smart cameras from Azena partner Vivotek, the cameras can be used to detect lines at food and beverage stands as they form and notify employees to increase staffing at busy checkouts. The Penguins will be able to use the data to help streamline their touchless ordering system for mobile phones.
