Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo and the National Women’s Soccer League’s Houston Dash selected Extreme Networks Smart OmniEdge solution to provide Wi-Fi connectivity in its home field, BBVA Stadium, Extreme said in a release.
BBVA Stadium claims to be the first MLS stadium to deploy Wi-Fi 6 technology. The new Wi-Fi 6 network will enhance the game-day experience for fans and will also create the opportunity to enable mobile ticketing and wireless food ordering as well as potential future innovations such as augmented and virtual reality.
The deployment of Extreme Networks’ solutions will allow the two teams to support mission-critical gameday operations and increase Wi-Fi capacity for their fans.
Extreme’s switching technology and Extreme Mobility Wi-Fi 6 access points were deployed as part of this connectivity project, the vendor said. With this network upgrade, the Houston Dynamo can power stadium operations and support more mobile devices and bandwidth-hungry applications. Extreme said that the team also has sufficient capacity to segment the network so that media organizations covering the games can seamlessly upload large image and video files in real time, without jitter or latency — and without impacting operations or fan experience.
The Houston Dynamo’s IT team is also planning to leverage Extreme’s analytics tools to gain granular visibility into network and application performance, users, locations and devices.
“We’re continually investing in and improving the fan experience at BBVA Stadium, and reliable Wi-Fi connectivity during games is table stakes for our dynamic millennial fan base,” said John Walker, president of business operations for the Houston Dynamo and Houston Dash. “But as we look to add more devices and digital capabilities, we need a cutting-edge network that can both support greater Wi-Fi bandwidth and capacity needs and give us the freedom to innovate. By deploying Extreme Networks Wi-Fi 6 access points, we will have the ability to scale our network and support forward-looking digital initiatives that will cement our reputation as a leading destination for major league soccer in the country.”
“Technology is an integral part of sports today and stadiums across the country are looking to improve their digital offerings — or risk declining attendance. But stadiums are uniquely challenging, highly density environments that require a powerful, leading-edge network,” said John Brams, director of hospitality, sports and entertainment at Extreme Networks. “As the first vendor to offer 802.11ax access points purpose-built for stadium environments and as the official Wi-Fi solutions provider for the NFL for the last six seasons, Extreme’s state-of-the-art network solutions will set Houston Dynamo up for success as they look to build innovative, tech-driven game day experiences.”
Extreme Networks currently delivers high-density Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi analytics solutions to 25 NFL teams., and the company said its networking solutions are used at more than 4,500 college campuses around the world.