Intelligent Stadium Elevates Fan Experience Through Real-Time Data Decisions

A packed stadium on Sunday elicits roaring cheers from fans and a flood of data touch points. One National Football League (NFL) team found themselves waiting two days to capture and process their game day analytics on parking, attendance, merchandise sales, food & beverage consumption, and the overall satisfaction of fans. ​​This globally-recognized National Football League franchise (“Team”) with 70+ years in business and multiple Super Bowl championships teamed up with Avvale to score real-time analytics that positively impact profitability and fan experience.

The Challenge

The Team’s two-day delay in analytics prevented leadership from having the ability to both respond immediately to customer issues as well as improve the overall sales and operations of the arena.

Leaders needed real-time data, in an easy to digest platform, from their main revenue generating sources. This would ensure they could react quickly to issues, ensure optimum fan experience, and maximize game day revenue. To achieve this objective, the NFL Franchise chose to utilize a solution implemented by Avvale.

The Approach

Working with the Team, we implemented SAP Cloud Platform Integration Services to retrieve data from all the data sources and enable push notifications. SAP HANA Database as a Service not only acted as data storage, but also accelerated reporting speed and empowered instant calculations. Finally, SAP Analytics Cloud provided a presentation layer of the data. Avvale then created a touchscreen digital dashboard for the Team’s executive suite to display all the data in real-time.

One specific data source that was leveraged to track customer satisfaction was Happy or Not, terminals with color-coded buttons used by attendees to rate their overall approval of specific venue services (food & bev, restrooms, etc.) In addition, we also implemented SMS guest notifications to immediately alert service reps and VIP suites when guests arrive at the venue, ensuring they provide a personal level of hospitality.

The Impact

The Team now has a 360-degree, real-time view from multiple data sources including parking, attendance, merchandise, food and beverage, and Happy or Not. This allows the Team to “pivot within the game to address challenges and/or recognize opportunity” and remarkably increases their speed and efficiency in doing so.

“It’s a big stadium. Before, staff had to run around the entire venue or call each other to monitor things. Now they do it from a central suite overlooking the 40-yard line like an air traffic controller.” The Team can also track all “per cap” revenue and instantly compare it previous events, monitor which on-site vendors are performing lower than expected, and recognize if there are “any bottlenecks in parking or gate entrance” that need to be instantly redirected to improve the fan experience; all from a “visually appealing” and easy to understand digital touch screen.