With the completion of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy has changed the way fans enjoy football. Widely considered to be one of the premier venues in the world, the stadium has drawn praise for its many innovative features. Let’s take a look at how these features work to revolutionize the matchday experience and usher in a new era for football.
Technological goals
The fan experience at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has been greatly influenced by the
technology installed throughout the venue. Not only does this approach draw from the most advanced tech available at present, it also includes efforts to future-proof the stadium so that new technologies can be incorporated as they are created.
When commenting on this tech-centric focus, the Spurs Chairman noted that this was,
ultimately, in service of a singular goal — improving fan experience. “The intention was always to create the most technologically advanced stadium in the world,” noted Daniel Levy, “not for the sake of it, but to help us revolutionize the matchday experience for our supporters.”
Network connectivity
With the new stadium’s more than 62,000-person capacity, representing a major increase over its predecessor’s 36,000 seats, one of the key needs that the project’s technology had to address, was network connectivity. This concept was addressed in the project’s build through the implementation of a high-grade network infrastructure consisting of more than 45 kilometre of cables and individual fibers collectively measuring more than 25 kilometre in length.
The brains of the network — two principle data centres — house the stadium’s main servers
and help to route stadium traffic on even the busiest matchday. One of these server rooms is on display in the northwest corner of the stadium to allow fans to see the work that has gone into provided them with a state-of-the-art experience. That work includes an additional 63 IT rooms situated around the stadium.
Cumulatively, the system utilizes more than 9,000 network points to run its high-tech matchday operations. This provides capacity for more than 30,000 simultaneous connections, including critical stadium operations. This capacity allows the stadium’s Wi-Fi system to provide incredibly fast connection speeds to fans as they enjoy their experience. In fact, thanks to 1,641 wireless access points, the system can handle simultaneous video streaming from up to 65 percent of a full-capacity crowd.
With a similar focus on mobile connectivity, the stadium is the first in the UK to strike an
agreement with all four major mobile phone providers. This allows stadium visitors to reliably use their phone no matter which company they select as their provider. “Most stadiums do a mobile phone deal with one company, which means that if you’re on any other network you probably can’t get a signal,” noted Daniel Levy. “Very early on we decided not to do that to ensure that there is good service for everyone.” That goal is supported by a system of 164 antennas located around the stadium with built-in support for future upgrades to 5G service.
Cashless commerce
With a venue as large as Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, even seemingly small improvements in efficiency can result in a huge payoff for visitor experience. This is the motivation behind the stadium’s forward-looking move to a completely cashless experience. As the first stadium in the UK to implement such a move, the venue is showcasing the benefits that come from the increased speed of cashless transactions.
That increase translates to an average transaction time of just eight seconds, compared to 20 seconds for a cash transaction. Though the 12-second increase may seem small to some, when implemented over the roughly 60,000 transactions that occur during a typical matchday, the result is significant. Not only does the fully-electronic system allow the stadium staff to adapt in real-time to increased need at specific point of sale units, it also significantly reduces queue times across the venue.
These reductions have also been helped along by the stadium’s ingenious “bottoms up” beer pouring system. In accordance with its focus on technology to improve the experience of fans, the stadium’s beer kiosks utilize a pouring system that allows beer to enter cups from a hole in the bottom, rather than through the top. Implemented with the use of magnetically sealing false bottoms, the system allows a pint to be filled in just 7 seconds. This allows the stadium to serve up to 10,000 pints a minute when demand is at its highest.
LED displays
The LED displays installed in the new Spurs stadium are just one more way it’s revolutionizing the fan experience through technology. The bowl’s displays are the largest in any stadium in western Europe, with a maximum size of 320 square metres. In total, the bowl’s four displays have a combined area of over 1000 square metres. These main displays complement the bowl’s digital “ribbon displays” which, cumulatively measuring almost a kilometre long, wrap across the tiers separating the stands.
In addition to the impressively large LED displays in the bowl, there are over 1,750 crystal clear displays spread throughout the stadium in various other areas frequented by fans. Together, the stadium’s displays measure more than 3,000 square metres in combined area and provide an unparalleled way for fans to stay engaged in any event. Now that it has been completed, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is delivering on its ambitious promise of providing a revolutionary fan experience. With top-notch network connectivity,
reduced queue times, and beautiful displays for enhanced viewing, it’s clear why the stadium has been dubbed one of the best in the world. Thanks to a forward-thinking approach to technology, that high-level experience is set to continue for many years to come. More importantly, given the current situation with COVID-19, the stadium is well placed to accommodate a return of fans given it already delivers digital ticketing and cashless transactions.
More information about Daniel Levy Tottenham at https://www.crunchbase.com/person/daniel-levy-tottenham-hotspur
