Brisbane’s new Olympic stadium should be built with emerging technology front-of-mind, the man who shaped one of the world’s most advanced venues has said ahead of an upcoming visit to Queensland.
And Allegiant Stadium technology chief Matt Pasco expects facial recognition to be in full force by the time the Olympic torch enters the Brisbane Stadium at Victoria Park in 2032.
Speaking to this masthead from Nevada, the Las Vegas Raiders NFL franchise’s vice president said tech experts needed to be involved from the start of the planning and design process.
“One of the biggest lessons I learnt is that when you’re building a modern stadium, you have two very old industries – construction and sports – and they might not invite the technology people, but the reality is that every single piece of that building runs on technology. Even the lights have IP addresses,” he said.
“So you will save a lot of re-engineering work and a lot of money by getting the technology people in the room early so you can essentially design your technology stack along with the building – laying fibre cables, getting the appropriate number of IDF [intermediate distribution frame] closets, getting a data centre, getting an appropriate cellular system – all of those things need to be planned out early, and in conjunction with the evolution of the design and construction.”
Pasco said that approach led to the $2.7 billion Allegiant Stadium – along with SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles – consistently being listed among the best venues in the world.
“We were very fortunate in that I was pretty close to the head of the [Allegiant] stadium project and he empowered me – he said, ‘listen, if you think you need to be in a meeting and the door is closed, kick open the door and go sit down’,” he said.
Modern stadiums could not operate without state-of-the-art technology, Pasco said, both for back-of-house operations and, increasingly, the fan experience.
To that end, the Raiders teamed up with Australian navigation firm PAM to create a bespoke navigation app.
“Our stadium is located right across the highway from the Las Vegas Strip, and PAM has mapped out the entirety of Las Vegas, so if you come in and stay at the Bellagio and you want to walk to Allegiant, you can stay within the Raiders app and get way-finding all the way from your hotel to the front door of the stadium and your seat,” he said.
“And then we’ve also got a lot of pop-up merchandise locations throughout the strip, so you’ll be able to buy a jersey and a hat on the way to the stadium, or buy it in the stadium.”
Another initiative at Allegiant Stadium was its AI-powered “just walk out” concession stands, which allowed patrons to pick up what they wanted to buy, then just walk out without having to hand over any payment.
“Essentially, it’s a concession stand in a pen. You tap your credit card to enter, and you – or you and your group – can walk into the pen,” Pasco said.
“It’s got a bunch of cameras and it understands that group is attached to that credit card. Then you pick up your beer, your soda and your chips, and you walk out the back and it knows, based on the sensors and the cameras, what you purchased.”
In some venues, such as the Los Angeles Clippers’ Intuit Dome, that initial tap of the card was not even necessary as they had full facial recognition. Visitors scanned their face into an app to create a GameFace ID, which enabled them to enter the venue without presenting a ticket, and make purchases without having to pay with a card or device.
“Facial recognition for entry, facial recognition for age verification for alcohol, and facial recognition for purchase is coming,” Pasco said.
“It’s also a little bit creepy, so we have not yet rolled that out … Some people love it, some people do not. We’re sitting back and watching to see how that goes.”
American fans had adapted well to the new technologies, Pasco said, and so had many Australians who visited Vegas for the NRL’s opening round this month – matches he attended with his kids.
“It took me a little bit to figure out the rules, but I had a couple of really amazing chats with some Australians who were in town, and had the best time,” he said.
“They’re the politest people in the world, with the biggest potty-mouths I’ve ever heard.”
Pasco was due to speak at Queensland University of Technology’s Future of Sport Conference next Friday, March 27, along with SoFi Stadium director Brenda Suh, Australian Grand Prix chief executive Travis Auld, and others.
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