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In 2023, Telstra worked closely with Marvel Stadium to deliver an Australian first upgrade to the digital fan experience when they’re on the playing field itself while attending a major concert. Switched on just in time for the recent Paul McCartney concert tour, when the field of play becomes a standing room concert venue, Marvel Stadium attendees will continue to receive great network coverage to share the joy over 4G and 5G connections.
There’s something magical about a stadium concert experience, bringing fans together into a giant space to share their connection with superstar performers on the biggest stage possible. However, in areas where a high amount of users are concentrated such as a stadium, it’s common to face congestion issues.
Marvel Stadium performed network connectivity upgrades in 2020 which covered all Telstra licensed frequency bands, including mmWave. It delivered a great experience for attendees seated in the stands - but when concert events brought the fans onto the field, there was opportunity to even further improve the experience.
Delivering an on-field performance upgrade
Telstra worked with Marvel Stadium to analyse connectivity performance across the stadium during Red Hot Chili Peppers and Harry Styles concerts in February 2023. This brought a clearer understanding of the opportunity and helped develop a new map to improve connectivity on the playing field in future. From this investigation, the team moved quickly to design and implement a new solution to give Paul McCartney fans the best possible experience for his concert event in October 2023.
With the 2023 redesign, Telstra brought an Australia-first Digital Antenna System (DAS) design to Marvel Stadium, deploying a new layout that delivered four times the on-field capacity – eight zones in total to spread the connectivity load far more efficiently than ever before. This results in vastly reduced congestion for on-field events – and a far more enjoyable experience for concert goers.
In Telstra’s testing of the Paul McCartney experience, with 52,000 attendees in total, over 90% of concert goers on the field area were able to achieve a usable connection during the busiest period of the concert. Average 4G download speeds for those on the field were over 13Mbps and 2.5Mbps for uploads, with peak concurrent usage of 10,800 users in the stands and 2,800 on the field.
With the new DAS design in place, the Marvel Stadium and Telstra team continues to run further optimisations, always aiming to deliver the best possible connectivity experience in the stands and on the field. Fans of P!nk coming to her concert at Marvel Stadium in February 2024 will be the next to encounter the on-field connectivity improvements.
Photo credit: Paul Mc Cartney & MPL Communications”
Achieving the ultimate fan experience
Marvel Stadium is proudly on a mission to deliver a range of incredible fan experience offerings throughout its venue. This includes the Australian first ‘Just Walk Out’ Amazon shopping technology to make food and beverage faster than ever for fans to enjoy. And as the technology and innovation partner for the AFL and Marvel Stadium, Telstra works hard to deliver the foundations every fan experience is built upon.
On-field access events are now a regular feature of every stadium calendar. Delivering the best possible fan experience means ensuring great connectivity to every attendee, whether they’re visiting a restaurant or they’re standing at the centre of the field. With the DAS update at Marvel Stadium, this is one venue that knows it is keeping fans happy no matter where they’re standing when they decide to tell the world they’re having a great time.
Photo credit: Paul Mc Cartney & MPL Communications”
