Kansas City Royals Enhance Fan Experience in New Kauffman Stadium With Cisco StadiumVision Video Technology

Royals Deploy Cisco and AT&T Interactive Video Technology to Create Unique Fan Experience and Improve Operational Efficiencies in New Venue
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KANSAS CITY, Mo.- The Kansas City Royals today announced that the newly opened Kauffman Stadium has been outfitted with leading-edge Cisco and AT&T technologies to deliver an innovative experience for Royals fans and other venue attendees. The Cisco StadiumVisionTM technology will bring fans closer to the game and their favorite players though an immersive interactive video experience. Cisco StadiumVision is a centrally managed, fast video processing and distribution technology that delivers customized video content to different sections of a stadium in both standard and high-definition formats. The Kansas City Royals have deployed Cisco StadiumVision through a project with AT&T, in order to enhance the fan experience, create operational efficiencies and gain the flexibility to transform the venue allowing for the creation of new revenue streams. The scalable Cisco® Connected Sports solution will allow the Royals and Kauffman Stadium to continue to offer its fans leading sports and entertainment experiences now and into the future.
Key Facts:

Enhanced Fan Experiences

* With more than 400 TV monitors from four different vendors throughout Kauffman Stadium displaying high-definition (HD) video on all channels, fans will never have to miss a moment of action on the field.

* Cisco StadiumVision also enables the Royals to customize the delivery of real-time sports news and scores, weather and traffic updates, team trivia and relevant promotions to fans on any display monitor throughout the stadium.

* On monitors in the Kauffman Stadium luxury suites, fans will be able to control their own viewing experience by selecting their favorite channels from a custom lineup that includes a stats channel, so fans can track real-time pitch counts and speed, batting lineups, and game hitting percentages.

* Future stadium capabilities include the potential support of mobile devices for ordering concessions from any seat, viewing instant replays, or chatting in real time with friends inside and outside the stadium.

Venue Transformation

* With Cisco StadiumVision, Kauffman Stadium can easily change the look and feel of the entire venue to match the event, including concession menus, merchandise offerings, advertising and promotions all with the click of a mouse.

Operational Efficiencies

* All of the 400-plus video monitors throughout Kauffman Stadium can be managed from a central location, enabling much more efficient and flexible delivery of live HD game video, targeted advertising, promotions and customized fan content.

* After a game or event, all stadium monitors will stream information including maps to the nearest exit and real-time traffic information, contributing to an enhanced event experience.

* AT&T designed and installed the state-of-the-art Cisco network infrastructure. The Internet Protocol telephony allows full integration of video, voice, data and wireless services into one next-generation network that connects the team to its fans in new ways.

New Revenue Stream Opportunities

* Cisco StadiumVision allows the Kansas City Royals to interact with fans in ways that were not possible before. The entire venue can essentially become a marketing platform, as targeted advertisements and promotions and banner or ticker ads along with full-screen digital ads can be linked to fan demographics or specific moments during the game.

* Kauffman Stadium can customize advertising content in its premium luxury boxes to meet the specific needs of the suite owner and guests. This gives the stadium and its sponsor a greater ability to customize the type, placement and timing of ad delivery to activate spend in new ways and increase the value of these offerings.

Supporting Quotes:

* “When building our new stadium, we wanted to ensure that we could meet the needs of our fans today and into the future. By working with Cisco and AT&T, we have built a scalable technology network that ’future proofs’ our venue and extends our capability to remain a leading-edge sports and entertainment facility for years to come”, said Kevin Uhlich, senior vice president - business operations, Kansas City Royals.

* “We’re thrilled to be working with the Kansas City Royals and to have the opportunity to play a key role in the transformation of the new Kauffman Stadium”, said David Holland, senior vice president and treasurer, Cisco. “Our shared goal from the outset is to ensure that Cisco’s StadiumVision technology is helping to deliver a better game experience for Royals baseball fans and at the same time give the organization the flexibility to transform the sporting stadium into a multiuse venue.”