Was going to post this in the Catering Tonight thread but thought it was so interesting, it was worthy of a thread of its own. This is an extract from Robert Scoble and Shel Israel's book The Age of Context (which BTW is well worth reading, some fascinating insights).
And apologies for the length but I think this is worth it.
"The NFL is the world’s most lucrative professional sports organization but there was a problem.
League-wide, in-stadium attendance has been shrinking by about two percentage points each year. Fans represent the most profitable segment of NFL revenues. It’s not just the steeply priced tickets; it’s also the beverages and food as well as all those caps, tee shirts and souvenir bling.
Where are the fans going? They’re not going to a competing sport, many of whom are also experiencing lost fans … their biggest competitor is also one of football’s most lucrative allies: HDTV. Broadcast, of course, pays big bucks for licensing rights, but there’s less profit in it than getting a fan to come to the stadium. The teams do not share in ad revenues on network broadcasts.
Each year, a tad more people stay home or go to local taverns to watch games on big screens. Multiple cameras and clever audio let TV viewers see the game better from their living room couch or a barstool than from the best seats in the stadium. Besides, you can get a beer and a burger faster, cheaper, and the lines to the bathrooms are a lot shorter.
Beer and soft drinks are a big deal to the NFL. They represent 70 percent of all sales during a game, and they provide a high margin of profit. So each time a fan gets a fresh cold one at the local tavern, the NFL is thrown for a slight loss at the bottom line.
It goes without saying the guys who run the NFL are a competitive bunch. And they understand that when they keep getting thrown for a loss of two percent each year, they need to change strategy.The surprise to us was to learn they see the solution in online and contextual technologies.
Starting in September 2013 season ticket holders will be able to see the game better on their tablets and iPhone inside the stadium than they will at home. And, best of all, they’ll be able to get their burgers and beers faster by far if they’re at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. The NFL has been using the Patriots as a test case for the entire League.
So why the Patriots of all teams? It turns out that in the NFL, they have been the League’s flagship for online technologies. Jonathan Kraft, president of The Kraft Group, owners of the Patriots, is also co-chairman of the League’s digital committee, where he has been entrusted to explore ways to enhance fan experience through technology.
Kraft understood both the advantages and the challenge for stadium events. “There is still nothing like the thrill of a live game,” he told us, “but we realize we had to match what people get at home and then make the in-stadium experience that much better.”
Kraft turned to Fred Kirsch, the Patriots’ vice president whose job is to use technologies to bring fans and players closer together … To meet the new goal of using online technology to enhance the in-stadium experience, Kirsch contracted Enterasys Secure Networks. The first step was to wire the entire stadium, making it so rock-solid that 70,000 fans could go online and watch the same replay or livestream simultaneously.
This was something that previously had not been done and it required an expensive and complicated double-density system. Completed in 2012, it is used on average by 12,000 fans at each home game. So far it has performed flawlessly. HD cameras were placed throughout the stadium to provide exclusive livestream footage. A single camera could follow the Patriots’ quarterback during every moment of a game if wanted.
This wasn’t about checking in on Foursquare, Vala Afshar, Enterasys CMO said “The idea was to let fans use their smart phones and tablets to experience things that were not previously possible and not possible outside of the stadium.” Gillette’s Wifi is intended to give fans a better experience than they can have at the local pub. It also was required to provide video that equaled or surpassed HDTV.
Season ticket holders, and fans in elite seats who bring mobile devices with them, are treated to six livestream views of the game plus replays. They can use the Wifi to tweet or check other games as well.
In 2013, it will take its first baby steps by allowing the “premium fans” to use their mobile devices to order drinks and food while sitting in their seats, through mobile apps that also allow them to pay by credit card.
There will be no delivery to fan seats. “Football fans are very intense. They don’t want to miss a single play and they don’t like passing hot dogs or beers to the guy sitting in the middle of the row,” Kraft told us.
So the Patriots have set up an express line. Fans get alerted when their order is ready. They zip up, grab their orders, and get back to their seats having missed as little of the game as possible.
Fans can also check the mobile app to find out where the shortest lines are to the restrooms, a concern that can become even more urgent than the need for fresh beer. The Pats are using location-based technologies so they know where you are seated in the stands, and what restroom and concession stands are nearest you.
From baby steps, the Pats management hopes to be jogging next year. That’s when the Gillette system starts getting deeply contextual. They are gathering data on the eating and drinking habits of participating fans. They know when a season ticket holder is attending and they know what that ticket holder’s buying habits are during a game, so they can start to predict who will be ordering what at a particular moment in every game. Perhaps they will start having fans preorder before they even get to the stadium.
All of this will help them predict inventory. They will know in advance how much of each item they are likely to sell, and when they need to be preparing or pouring. The fans are getting a frictionless order and the Pats are getting a return on their investment by reducing costs and serving their best customers faster."
What's interesting is that we're not talking millions of pounds here: you'd need decent wifi but the app that does this could be sold or funded by advertising and there'd be some work on the back-end but, as the article makes clear, the club would get a return on its investment within a few years. I'm surprised Barber hasn't thought about this, given his background in the US
And apologies for the length but I think this is worth it.
"The NFL is the world’s most lucrative professional sports organization but there was a problem.
League-wide, in-stadium attendance has been shrinking by about two percentage points each year. Fans represent the most profitable segment of NFL revenues. It’s not just the steeply priced tickets; it’s also the beverages and food as well as all those caps, tee shirts and souvenir bling.
Where are the fans going? They’re not going to a competing sport, many of whom are also experiencing lost fans … their biggest competitor is also one of football’s most lucrative allies: HDTV. Broadcast, of course, pays big bucks for licensing rights, but there’s less profit in it than getting a fan to come to the stadium. The teams do not share in ad revenues on network broadcasts.
Each year, a tad more people stay home or go to local taverns to watch games on big screens. Multiple cameras and clever audio let TV viewers see the game better from their living room couch or a barstool than from the best seats in the stadium. Besides, you can get a beer and a burger faster, cheaper, and the lines to the bathrooms are a lot shorter.
Beer and soft drinks are a big deal to the NFL. They represent 70 percent of all sales during a game, and they provide a high margin of profit. So each time a fan gets a fresh cold one at the local tavern, the NFL is thrown for a slight loss at the bottom line.
It goes without saying the guys who run the NFL are a competitive bunch. And they understand that when they keep getting thrown for a loss of two percent each year, they need to change strategy.The surprise to us was to learn they see the solution in online and contextual technologies.
Starting in September 2013 season ticket holders will be able to see the game better on their tablets and iPhone inside the stadium than they will at home. And, best of all, they’ll be able to get their burgers and beers faster by far if they’re at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. The NFL has been using the Patriots as a test case for the entire League.
So why the Patriots of all teams? It turns out that in the NFL, they have been the League’s flagship for online technologies. Jonathan Kraft, president of The Kraft Group, owners of the Patriots, is also co-chairman of the League’s digital committee, where he has been entrusted to explore ways to enhance fan experience through technology.
Kraft understood both the advantages and the challenge for stadium events. “There is still nothing like the thrill of a live game,” he told us, “but we realize we had to match what people get at home and then make the in-stadium experience that much better.”
Kraft turned to Fred Kirsch, the Patriots’ vice president whose job is to use technologies to bring fans and players closer together … To meet the new goal of using online technology to enhance the in-stadium experience, Kirsch contracted Enterasys Secure Networks. The first step was to wire the entire stadium, making it so rock-solid that 70,000 fans could go online and watch the same replay or livestream simultaneously.
This was something that previously had not been done and it required an expensive and complicated double-density system. Completed in 2012, it is used on average by 12,000 fans at each home game. So far it has performed flawlessly. HD cameras were placed throughout the stadium to provide exclusive livestream footage. A single camera could follow the Patriots’ quarterback during every moment of a game if wanted.
This wasn’t about checking in on Foursquare, Vala Afshar, Enterasys CMO said “The idea was to let fans use their smart phones and tablets to experience things that were not previously possible and not possible outside of the stadium.” Gillette’s Wifi is intended to give fans a better experience than they can have at the local pub. It also was required to provide video that equaled or surpassed HDTV.
Season ticket holders, and fans in elite seats who bring mobile devices with them, are treated to six livestream views of the game plus replays. They can use the Wifi to tweet or check other games as well.
In 2013, it will take its first baby steps by allowing the “premium fans” to use their mobile devices to order drinks and food while sitting in their seats, through mobile apps that also allow them to pay by credit card.
There will be no delivery to fan seats. “Football fans are very intense. They don’t want to miss a single play and they don’t like passing hot dogs or beers to the guy sitting in the middle of the row,” Kraft told us.
So the Patriots have set up an express line. Fans get alerted when their order is ready. They zip up, grab their orders, and get back to their seats having missed as little of the game as possible.
Fans can also check the mobile app to find out where the shortest lines are to the restrooms, a concern that can become even more urgent than the need for fresh beer. The Pats are using location-based technologies so they know where you are seated in the stands, and what restroom and concession stands are nearest you.
From baby steps, the Pats management hopes to be jogging next year. That’s when the Gillette system starts getting deeply contextual. They are gathering data on the eating and drinking habits of participating fans. They know when a season ticket holder is attending and they know what that ticket holder’s buying habits are during a game, so they can start to predict who will be ordering what at a particular moment in every game. Perhaps they will start having fans preorder before they even get to the stadium.
All of this will help them predict inventory. They will know in advance how much of each item they are likely to sell, and when they need to be preparing or pouring. The fans are getting a frictionless order and the Pats are getting a return on their investment by reducing costs and serving their best customers faster."
What's interesting is that we're not talking millions of pounds here: you'd need decent wifi but the app that does this could be sold or funded by advertising and there'd be some work on the back-end but, as the article makes clear, the club would get a return on its investment within a few years. I'm surprised Barber hasn't thought about this, given his background in the US