Sounders-Earthquakes on Saturday will mark the "first official Levi's Stadium sporting event," and "as many as 45,000 fans -- or two-thirds of the stadium capacity -- are expected to be in attendance," according to Mike Rosenberg of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. The Santa Clara Police Department is "deputizing an additional 100 part-time cops from other cities to patrol for drunk and disorderly fans." City and team officials are "fine-tuning traffic and parking plans to prevent log-jammed roads." In addition, transit agencies led by the Valley Transportation Authority are "sending out an army of ambassadors to guide new riders" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 8/1).
TECH SPECS: In San Jose, Troy Wolverton writes thanks to "a new app and a technological infrastructure that many analysts say will be second-to-none," the smartphone "will be an indispensable game-day tool" at Levi's Stadium. With a "high-capacity network and an in-stadium antenna system, fans will be able to use their phones to check sports scores from around the league, get updates on their fantasy football teams and message selfies to their friends." Befitting a team "based in the heart of Silicon Valley, the 49ers devoted a sizable chunk" of their $1.3B stadium budget to technological features. The 49ers "declined to say exactly how much they spent on particular items, but last year estimated they would spend" about $125M on technology, up from an initial $50M budget. Much of the tech "will be hidden from view in a state-of-the-art computer network that would make many a tech startup jealous." The network includes "about 680 Wi-Fi access points -- one for every 100 seats in the stadium." It also includes "a superfast 40-gigabit-per-second fiber-optic cable 'backbone' that connects the stadium's network to the broader Internet." That is 10,000 times "faster than what federal regulators classify as broadband." Niners officials said that with the app, the team "hopes to eliminate some of the biggest frustrations fans face in attending live sporting events" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 8/1).
