Super Bowl 50 Partners Discuss Fan Experience, Technology And The Big Game
With only 18 days until Super Bowl 50 kicks off, some of the most important minds behind the biggest game of the NFL season discussed the fan experience and technology featured at SB50.
Chat Sports: Minds Behind The Game, a private panel event, has featured the likes of Jed York, Tiki Barber and Charles Woodson in the past. This year, it brought together San Francisco 49ers’ Chief Operating Officer Al Guido, NFL Vice President of Fan Centric Marketing Aidan Lyons and SAP Chief Design Officer Sam Yen. Chat Sports CEO James Yoder served as moderator.
The ninth Minds Behind The Game panel focused on the brand and technology partners of SB50: the host stadium, the NFL fan experience and the cutting-edge technology. The event was hosted in partnership with the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee.
SB50 has already been hailed as the most technologically advanced Super Bowl in history. Levi’s Stadium will play a big role in that. Guido called it the “testing ground” for this Super Bowl and future ones because of its technological capabilities. However, the NFL’s Fan Mobile Pass will be critical as well.
“It’s the digital key to unlock an entirely new experience with user-generated content,” Lyons said of the Mobile Pass. “We’re putting the fan first and putting the technology in their hand to make things seamless.”
Super Bowl City will open earlier than ever before and the SAP Fan Energy Zone will serve as a playground for fans. Virtual reality technology will allow fans to take on the role of quarterback and compete against other fans for the highest score.
“With our real-time technology, you’re going to be competing against everyone else,” Yen said. “You could be throwing a pass with everyone else in the stadium.”
Yen was in Germany recently for an SAP event, and said even German fans were excited about Super Bowl 50.
“Even Germany’s excited about SAP hosting the Super Bowl,” Yen said. “We had 8,000 German fans cheering about American football; American football, not European football.”
As for the actual game day, Guido addressed the logistics involved. His biggest concerns were weather and transportation, but Guido was confident the plans were in place to avoid major challenges. Learning from the public transportation problems at MetLife Stadium, the 49ers have worked closely with CalTrain to provide pre-ordered tickets for exact capacity counts. This should help avoid long lines and delays.
“If you’re going to the event on Sunday, get in early,” Guido said. “We feel good about it.”
While much of the night focused on the serious side of the Super Bowl, the panelists found a way to work in a few jokes.
Super Bowl tickets are hard to come by, as Guido proved.
“I haven’t even told my parents if they’re going yet,” Guido said.
His parents were in attendance for the event, and the response drew laughter from both his parents and the crowd.
The ninth Minds Behind Game demonstrated that Super Bowl 50 aimed high with its technology and fan experience endeavors. The final result won’t be known until after the game is complete, but Super Bowl 50 is setting up to be an incredible event.
