How Sports Teams Use IT Support
There’s nothing quite like Saturday night in Death Valley. Baton Rouge is home to one of the great cathedrals of American sports, where magic hangs in the air and the roar of the crowd can literally shake the earth. It’s a spectacle that even the Romans couldn’t have imagined.
But Tiger Stadium’s mystique isn’t spontaneous or accidental – it’s a carefully crafted experience, cultivated for nearly a century, passed down from generation to generation. It’s a special place, and as its legend has grown so have its capabilities. Games are augmented with video boards, booming sound systems, in-stadium WiFi and more. A football stadium is more than concrete and culture – it’s a living, breathing giant with miles of cabling, hidden control rooms and state-of-the-industry hardware woven into its bones. Sports teams are known for what they do on the field, but their homes are the wonders of the IT world.
Sports Marketing Begins with IT Support
Not every team gets fans in seats with name recognition and history alone. Every great organization has great marketing, and in-house marketing departments are a great example of how managed IT services are utilized in the sports world.
These high-energy environments bring together gifted writers and innovative graphic designers, as well as skilled web developers and eager social media managers. Driving the image and communications of a beloved sports team relies heavily on IT solutions that enable equally powerful and effective collaboration. Cloud services and virtualized workspaces simplify storage and refine workflows. Mobile data collection and BYOD policies allow employees to work in tandem out in the field, whether they’re promoting the next home game at a local bar or taking photos and video from the sideline to piece together for the halftime graphic.
Stadiums Are Infrastructural Wonders
Besides being feats of architecture and engineering, modern stadiums are also home to some of the most impressive IT infrastructure the world has ever seen. In order to put together an impressive game day experience, a stadium must be capable of running audio and video through massive speakers and displays, and many stadiums are making an effort to provide free WiFi throughout the entire complex.
Brand new stadiums take these features into account during the design process, but for old stalwarts like Tiger Stadium, IT professionals have to find a way to work around the existing architecture that was designed when the internet was as much science fiction as the Starship Enterprise.
Game Day is a Logistical Marvel
Getting 102,000 people in and out of a single structure while verifying their tickets and ensuring they get to the right seats sounds like an impossible task, but with IT support it becomes routine. Ticket services are a niche fusion of IT, marketing and customer service.
Beyond ticketing, there are vendors, reserved tailgating spots, security and numerous other concerns that need to be coordinated. A premier sporting event has thousands of moving pieces, and automated workflows and unified communications help the process run smoothly.
While not every organization needs the level of IT support that a sports team requires, the same basic principles guide great IT at every level for any organization.
At Immense Networks, we are completely focused on providing your business with top-notch solutions to ensure that your business is as polished and professional as Saturday night in a rocking Death Valley. If you’d like to have a conversation about how we can work together to make that happen, then don’t wait another minute to move the ball forward – drop us a line today.
