The arrival of 5G has many within the sports industry excited, with many believing the arrival of next-generation networks will transform everything from broadcast production to fan engagement.
An early example of this in action is a new two-year partnership between Vodafone and the German Football Association (DFL), which plans to use 5G networks to boost capacity at Bundesliga matches and to bring real-time statistics to fans using Augmented Reality (AR).
Among other things, 5G will deliver gigabit speeds, enhanced capacity, and ultra-low latency. This improves mobile coverage for end-users and will enable revolutionary new applications such as AR and VR.
The 5G stadium
“Technologies are only as good as the application possibilities that emerge from them,” says Christian Seifert, DFL CEO. “As a leader of innovation, the DFL is continuously advancing new technologies concerning sport and media to provide additional possibilities to spectators in the stadium and in front of screens.
“We are doing this by connecting 5G and real-time information. A strong 5G infrastructure provides the ideal conditions for partners and clubs too.”
The average Bundesliga match attracts 43,000 spectators who consume an average of 500GB of data while at the stadium–a figure which has risen by 50% over the past 12 months. Fans use their smartphone to check scores, post pictures or videos on social media, and increasingly to watch live videos of the game they are watching.
The introduction of 5G coverage to a stadium means that more people can use their device at the same time–including the Bundesliga’s AR app. At every single game, the Bundesliga analyses more than 1,600 match events and 3.6 million positioning points.
The insights gleaned from this data will be superimposed over live match action using AR. For example, it will be possible to see how fast a player is running towards the goal in real time. The DFL claims that statistics have never been presented to fans in such a way.
The importance of data
Such a use case simply isn’t possible using 4G because the latency is too high and fans struggle to connect to networks in busy public areas like soccer stadiums. 5G networks are architected in such a way that data is sent to and from a smartphone as quickly as possible.
The first stadium to be connected to Vodafone’s 5G network is the Volkswagen Arena–home of 2008-09 Bundesliga Champions, VfL Wolfsburg. Vodafone claims capacity will be boosted by 60%.
“Data [is] becoming increasingly important for many fans,” added Vodafone Germany CEO Hannes Ametsreiter. “So far, they have often been available at home on the TV only after the match. We are now bringing these worlds together.”
Research from Amdocs and Ovum suggests 91% of the world’s leading mobile operators plan to hold trials of 5G sporting experiences at stadiums. In the U.K., EE is connecting Wembley Stadium–the home of the England national soccer team–to the EE 5G network.
EE has deployed upgrades to its 4G network at the stadium before anywhere else, significantly boosting speeds and capacity, while it also hosted the first-ever live 5G broadcast of the EE Wembley Cup. Meanwhile, Telefonica in Spain plans to bring 5G coverage to Barcelona’s iconic Camp Nou stadium.
