SMG Senior VP/Stadiums & Arenas Doug Thornton, whose company manages the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, said that with a "growing number of more than 70,000 fans excitedly sending photos, making calls and typing out text messages at various times" during Monday night's Falcons-Saints game, the "antiquated cell antenna system in the Dome was overwhelmed at times," according to Mark Schleifstein of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. Thornton said, "You can't have 20,000 people trying to push data, photos and text and looking up things on the Internet at the same time in such a small space." But Thornton added that "at least one major New Orleans smartphone operator, Verizon, had problems involving its in-Dome cell antenna." A Verizon spokesperson said that the "antenna equipment -- designed for 3-G service -- was working, but it was overwhelmed by the number of people using smart phones on Monday night." Verizon is the official cellphone service of the Saints. Verizon PR Manager Gretchen Whitaker said that SMG has "agreed to allow Verizon to add some antennas inside the stadium this week to improve reception during" Sunday's game against the Panthers. Verizon is "one of several cellphone carriers that have leased space for antenna systems in the Dome in the past." But the "rapid expansion in the bandwidth used by smartphones has quickly outstripped the ability of the inside antennas to handle the load created during a Saints game or other event, a trend that Thornton said Superdome officials have foreseen for quite some time." SMG last year "negotiated a contract with AT&T to install a new, multimillion-dollar 'Distributed Antenna System' in the Dome designed to handle the larger bandwidth." Thornton said that the contract "required the new system to be open for use by all carriers, who will be installing connecting equipment in the next few weeks" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 12/28).
