Sporting Innovations gets Fast Company ink for stadium technology

The reason for the attention might make the purest fans of soccer — or, as they would call it, football — cringe, but Kansas City-based Sporting Innovations gets some significant ink in the March issue of Fast Company on account of the work it has done at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. “MLS…

An infographic in the March issue of Fast Company highlights some of the advanced technology in Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., which provides a testing ground for Sporting Innovations. 

The reason for the attention might make the purest fans of soccer — or, as they would call it, football — cringe, but Kansas City-based Sporting Innovations gets some significant ink in the March issue of Fast Company on account of the work it has done at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. “MLS club Sporting Kansas City knows not every one of its matches will be an instant classic,” the article says. “That doesn’t mean it can’t still keep fans entertained.”

Sporting Innovations, which we covered at the time of its launch in September, is a sports and entertainment technology company spun off from Kansas City’s Major League Soccer franchise, Sporting Kansas City. The company was established with the mission of enhancing the fan experience and delivering revenue growth opportunities for teams through integrated technologies.

The Fast Company spread illustrates several of those technologies with a sizable infographic (scaled down above, with a link to the full-size image). A few of the highlights:

  • Tweets with the hashtag #sportingKC scroll on the stadium’s jumbotron — an incentive that has led to a 25-percent spike in Sporting Kansas City references on Twitter.
  • The stadium was built with 30 miles of fiber optic wire and 200 routers to provide fans optimal Wi-Fi connections from anywhere inside its confines.
  • QR codes on seats enable everything from check-ins to (coming soon) the ability to place pickup orders at concession stands.
  • Advertising is targeted to specific clientele — for instance, there’s one type of car ad for the nosebleed seats and another for the luxury boxes — using “StadiumVision” technology.

The Fast Company piece also includes the perspectives of a few fans who “went to the stadium for a digital experience and were pleased to find a soccer game taking place.” In that, there’s a lesson for companies across all sorts of sectors about the value of providing a multitude of entry points for customer engagement. 

Find the complete Fast Company story here: “Livestrong Sporting Park Creates Games Within The Game For Sports Fans.” For additional information on Sporting Innovations and Livestrong Sporting Park, check out the video below.

 

Credits: Graphic of Livestrong Sporting Park from fastcompany.com. Video from Cisco on YouTube.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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