Seattle Seahawks: Delivering an Enhanced In-Stadium Experience
Published: April 17, 2019
Prior to the ’16 NFL season, the Seattle Seahawks invested in and deployed a purpose-built Wi-Fi solution at their stadium, CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA. The Seahawks, led by innovator and industry-expert Chip Suttles, VP of Technology with the team, identified the importance of offering quality Wi-Fi connectivity to their fans on game day – despite already having one of the best in-stadium experiences in the NFL.
The high-density Wi-Fi implementation met the mobile expectations of their dedicated fan base, and built a powerful platform to leverage as a supporting business asset and fan engagement tool moving forward. That season, the Seahawks observed the following results from the network deployment:
- Pervasive and secure high-density Wi-Fi access for public and private use
- Ability to push real-time content to fans and support mobile services to fans in-venue
- Overall improved mobile and game day experience for users in-venue, for both cellular and Wi-Fi
- Establish additional connection point with Seahawks fans and venue guests
- 25% – 30% In-Venue Wi-Fi Use at each home game
In the video below, hear from Chip Suttles, as he describes working with Extreme Networks and what drove his decision to deploy a high-density Wi-Fi network at CenturyLink Field.
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Fast-forward to ’18, and the Seahawks’ Wi-Fi usage and satisfaction by fans continues to grow, surpassing a 50% unique usage rate by fans for most games at CenturyLink Field, and average 4 to 5 TBs of data transferred across the network at each event, if not more.
The Seahawks have also been able to use the network to support and complement other in-stadium fan engagement technologies. The team relies on the in-stadium connectivity to support their fan-facing mobile application, in addition to a Bluetooth beaconing and activation network to ‘surprise and delight fans’ during game day.
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To learn more about how Extreme Networks supports Sports & Public Venues, be sure to visit our industry solution page.