VenueNext will power the in-venue side of an enhanced Minnesota Vikings fan mobile app when U.S. Bank Stadium opens in August, part of a deal that also includes an equity investment in the startup from the Vikings’ ownership group.
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VenueNext will handle the Vikings’ app as it relates to U.S. Bank Stadium.
Photo by: VIKINGS.COM |
The $1.1 billion, 64,000-seat stadium will be the third NFL venue for the stadium-services system integrator, which combines digital ticketing, wayfinding, concessions ordering, loyalty rewards and push notifications into a single mobile platform.
The Vikings used VenueNext’s first year in operation at Levi’s Stadium in 2014 as a learning period for how it would look in Minneapolis, said John Penhollow, the Vikings’ vice president of corporate and technology partnerships. They worked with VenueNext founder and CEO John Paul and Chief Revenue Officer Tim Prukop, as well as 49ers President Al Guido and Paraag Marathe, 49ers chief strategy officer and executive vice president of football operations.
VenueNext is also featured at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium.
“We had a chance to really pick their brains [in San Francisco], and they were great,” Penhollow said. “We sat in the crowd like fans. We ordered food, used the wayfinding features, and saw it for ourselves. We knew they were onto something. Admittedly, we knew it was year one and there were some things that could be improved.”
In a change from Levi’s Stadium and other earlier partners, VenueNext’s functions will reside entirely in a single Vikings fan app, set for release before the NFL draft. Adept Mobile has created the news-and-information side of the new app, replacing prior developer YinzCam.
Penhollow said the team wanted a single tool, even if most fans worldwide might only use the in-venue functions a couple of times a year. “That’s a different twist on things,” Paul said.
The Vikings will debut the system at their coming NFL draft watch party at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The team will bring VenueNext’s digital ticketing kiosks to the venue to track access and begin developing a database on up to 5,000 season-ticket holders and other fans.
VenueNext’s tech partners at U.S. Bank Stadium include Ticketmaster, customer loyalty company Skidata and content app developer Adept, companies they’ve worked with before. Point-of-sale software maker Appetize is a first-time partner, Paul said.
The VenueNext system in Minnesota will also include a behind-the-scenes, real-time data dashboard called Wisdom and a dynamic content tool called Canopy. With those tools, vendors can take items off the food menu if they run out in a given section, or encourage merchandise or food deals if sales are slow. The back-end data will also feed into the Vikings’ customer databases, Paul said.
For U.S. Bank Stadium events not involving the Vikings, VenueNext has created a separate app in partnership with stadium operator SMG.
VenueNext was formed two years ago by Aurum Partners, a company owned by the York family, which owns the 49ers. VenueNext’s other investors include the DeVos family (owners of the Orlando Magic), Causeway Media Partners, Live Nation Entertainment, Twitter Ventures and Aruba Networks.
