The Falcons on Saturday night will play in Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the first time, and while the retractable roof and halo video board are the "most-talked about" features, technology will "drive many other aspects of the fan experience," according to Tim Tucker of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. The stadium has 1,800 "wireless access points and 80 gigabits per second of internet bandwidth capacity." That is 50% "more access points and double the capacity" of the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium, considered the NFL’s "most technologically advanced stadium" since opening in '14. AMB Sports & Entertainment Senior VP/Analytics & Technology and Chief Digital Officer Jared Miller said the stadium WiFi will be "blazing fast." Also, Tucker notes no paper tickets and no print-at-home PDFs "will be available for admission to Falcons or Atlanta United games," as the teams adopt 100% digital ticketing. In partnership with IBM, new mobile apps were "developed for the Falcons, Atlanta United and the stadium." The "Ask Arthur" feature on the stadium app is designed to "respond to fans’ questions about the game-day experience or logistics" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 8/25). In Atlanta, Steve Hummer wrote the new venue "dwarfs the Georgia Dome" and makes it look like a "relative toadstool." M-B Stadium has "made the Dome its outhouse, until implosion day." Hummer: "The Benz is going to rock" (AJC.com, 8/24).
FIELD OF DREAMS: Tucker notes fans on Saturday night can visit the "100 Yard Club," featuring a "length-of-the-field row of concession stands with bars on both ends." The 100 Yard Club is among M-B Stadium's "many responses to what fans at all ticket-price points have come to demand in sports venues." It is one of "almost-too-many-to-count gathering spaces" scattered around the stadium. The gathering spaces can be "found on all three levels of the stadium," and about 2,000 TVs throughout the building should "enable wandering fans to stay on top of the action." Other features include the AT&T Perch, an "interactive gathering spot on the middle level behind the west end zone" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 8/24).
