Prior to the ’16 NFL season, the Seattle Seahawks invested in and deployed a purpose-built Wi-Fi solution at their stadium, CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA.  The Seahawks, led by innovator and industry-expert Chip Suttles, VP of Technology with the team, identified the importance of offering quality Wi-Fi connectivity to their fans on game day – despite already having one of the best in-stadium experiences in the NFL.

The high-density Wi-Fi implementation met the mobile expectations of their dedicated fan base, and built a powerful platform to leverage as a supporting business asset and fan engagement tool moving forward.  That season, the Seahawks observed the following results from the network deployment:

• Pervasive and secure high-density Wi-Fi access for public and private use
• Ability to push real-time content to fans and support mobile services to fans in-venue
• Overall improved mobile and game day experience for users in-venue, for both cellular and Wi-Fi
• Establish additional connection point with Seahawks fans and venue guests
• 25% – 30% In-Venue Wi-Fi Use at each home game

In the video below, hear from Chip Suttles, as he describes working with Extreme Networks and what drove his decision to deploy a high-density Wi-Fi network at CenturyLink Field.

Fast-forward to ’18, and the Seahawks’ Wi-Fi usage and satisfaction by fans continues to grow, surpassing a 50% unique usage rate by fans for most games at CenturyLink Field, and average 4 to 5 TBs of data transferred across the network at each event, if not more.

The Seahawks have also been able to use the network to support and complement other in-stadium fan engagement technologies.  The team relies on the in-stadium connectivity to support their fan-facing mobile application, in addition to a Bluetooth beaconing and activation network to ‘surprise and delight fans’ during game day.

In my role as the vice president of technology for the Seattle Seahawks, my first challenge was to solve the connectivity issues that we had at a stadium on game day for our spectators. We wanted to bring a Wi-Fi solution that we could provide and supplement the cellular coverage with. We were able to deploy the perfect solution with Extreme products and Extreme has been a great partner for us for the last four years, helping us meet that need for connectivity on game day.

Chip Suttles VP of Technology, Seattle Seahawks

To learn more about how Extreme Networks supports Sports & Public Venues, be sure to visit our industry solution page.