Originally posted on RCRWireless News
The Sports & Entertainment Alliance in Technology hosts an annual convention for CIOs, CTOs and digital marketing experts from the sports and entertainment world. Most of these executives cannot do their jobs in venues that are not well-connected, and more to the point, many of them know they will no longer have a job if they cannot keep fans connected, even during the most heavily attended events.
Distributed antenna systems are the answer for many stadiums, and DAS vendors have descended en masse on San Francisco this week. Many are event sponsors, exhibitors or both.
“We are thrilled to be at SEAT with those who share our enthusiasm for sports and entertainment, and recognize the importance of connectivity at high-density venues,” said Christos Karmis, president of Mobilitie, a SEAT platinum sponsor. “SEAT provides a unique forum that brings industry leaders in the sporting and entertainment industries together to discuss the latest technology trends.”
“Large public-venue owners have a unique challenge,” said Peter Wraight, VP and GM of SEAT sponsor TE Wireless. “Their properties must meet the amenity demands of tens of thousands of individuals simultaneously and provide differentiated service for guests expecting a luxury experience whether at a casino or a professional sports match.”
The need for connectivity often extends beyond a destination venue into the surrounding metro area. “Metro-DAS” is an emerging trend identified by some vendors, including JMA Wireless, another SEAT sponsor.
“Many metro areas include a mix of sports stadiums, offices, hotels and entertainment venues that require different levels of service over a period of time,” said Todd Landry of JMA Wireless. “In order to provide robust cellular coverage and capacity cost-effectively, facilities are turning to a C-DAS (centralized distributed antenna system) approach. With this type of centralized solution, valuable onsite real estate can be preserved and multiple operators and their corresponding bands can be converged onto a minimum set of fiber. The capacity can be reutilized easily because it redirects sectors from offices normally used during the week to a stadium during game day on a weekend.”
Sharing resources in this way can make DAS affordable for venues that are not large enough to attract carrier investment, but still large enough to need a distributed antenna system. This is good news for vendors since most of the top-tier stadiums already have a DAS.
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