A new paper from Deloitte re-imagines the sports stadium concept in light of a number of developing technologies.
Notably, Deloitte gives the example of a fantasy sports-style interaction — a “game within the game” — where bets are placed using bitcoin “on in-game events, or use stadium-provided technology for other micro-transactions”.
The consultancy sees the sports stadium experience as one ripe for technological innovation, building on what’s already taking place on the court or field.
The paper explains:
“While a team is focused on delivering the best possible game experience to its fans, it can’t be all things to all people. Giving developers access to stadium infrastructure allows the team to benefit from the creativity of many.”
The authors propose the development of a sports stadium that is more than a “concrete donut”, but rather a technology stack comprised of an experience layer, an enabling tech layer and a technology infrastructure layer.
By opening the stadium’s technology infrastructure to third-party developers, according to the paper, new services could be offering using blockchain and other nascent technologies.
Deloitte compares the idea of building a wide range of applications for stadiums to Apple’s development of its own hardware-as-a-platform for software products, which last year was a $6bn-a-year business in net revenue for the technology giant.
Image of screen on grass field via Shutterstock; Stadium graph via Deloitte