Sporting Kansas City’s Livestrong Sporting Park will serve as a testing ground for technology developed by Sporting Innovations, a company launched today. Photo from proforged on Flickr.
It’s commonplace to hear stories of startups born out of corporations. But tech companies spun off from soccer clubs?
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That’s the story behind a brand-new company in Kansas City, Kan. The Kansas City Business Journal reports that Sporting Kansas City, Kansas City’s Major league Soccer franchise, today is launching a company called Sporting Innovations, which will provide services and software for the sports entertainment industry.
Since opening in June, Livestrong Sporting Park, Sporting Kansas City’s home stadium, has been praised as one of the most technologically advanced sports venues around. That, it appears, played a part in the launch of Sporting Innovations.
“We are the first stadium in North America to have a high-density Wi-Fi system,” Sasha Victorine, director of business development for Sporting Innovations, told the Business Journal. “So being the first ones to do it, we can help other stadiums develop their Wi-Fi capability, so they can do things like provide streaming video within their stadiums. These are all things that are going to start coming out here very soon.”
Sporting Innovations will work with other franchises and stadiums on implementing similar technology. The company is also developing a mobile platform, Fan 360, aimed at enriching the fan experience while helping teams connect with customers.
“We take that and bring it into the stadium, so there is integration whenever you are doing anything,” Victorine told the Business Journal. “For example, it can be used at entry points to the stadium through your phone or whatever you use to buy a ticket. That interaction then integrates into point-of-sale systems, the ticketing office and everything else you have, so as a team, you will understand that consumer a lot more. It’s also a value system for the consumer because the more connections they make and the more they can interact with teams in this regard, it will create additional benefits for them.”
This sort of techological innovation shouldn’t come as a complete surprise from a team whose ownership group includes Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig, co-founders of Kansas City-based IT giant Cerner. Also credited with an assist on the launch of Sporting Innovations: Google Fiber. The ultra high-speed network’s arrival in Kansas City will give Sporting Innovations a head-start on developing systems that won’t be possible in places with lower bandwidth.
