The Pacers are working with Detroit-based crowd-science startup WaitTime to “use cameras and artificial intelligence to send fans” to the shortest concession lines at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, according to Eben Novy-Williams of BLOOMBERG NEWS. The Pacers will “pay $150,000 in upfront costs and about $9,000 a month to WaitTime, which will equip the arena with cameras that take 10 snapshots per second.” Their software turns those photos into “information that's broadcast to fans on monitors around the venue.” It is also “shared in real time with the team and Levy Restaurants," which operates the arena. For example, WaitTime will tell the Pacers, in real time, how many people are waiting at the team’s taco cart on the main concourse, “how long it takes to reach the counter, how much time it takes to receive an order, how many people have abandoned the line and how many others have passed through the area.” The Pacers will also “have the option to sell ad space on WaitTime's monitors,” which made their debut Thursday night for a preseason game. In addition to the monitors, fans can access WaitTime's data “through the Pacers' mobile app, part of the team's push to make it a bigger resource for its fan base” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 10/6).
