Vodafone Business’ Director of Small, Medium & Enterprise Business, Claire Harris, comments on how 5G is transforming the UK’s summer of sport.
The Summer of 2024 is fast becoming a sporting blockbuster, and vendors have been catering around-the-clock for Wimbledon, The Euros, The Olympics, The British grand Prix at Silverstone and many more.
Amidst the excitement, a technological revolution is unfolding, poised to redefine the fan experience and transform how vendors deliver services. 5G connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT) promise to create smarter, more interactive, and personalised experiences for fans, while enabling vendors to operate with unprecedented efficiency.
A stadium’s food and drink sales account for a huge part of the match day economy but, with thousands of empty stomachs all queuing at once across several events this year, not everyone is always satisfied with the experience. That includes the vendors themselves, who risk losing out on sales during what should be their most profitable period of the year.
5G-enabled technology used by food vendors during a typical match could add £24 million to the match day economy over the next 5 years. In a typical 30,000 seat stadium, this could mean a 42% uplift in revenue from food and drink sales – per fixture. For professional rugby alone, the increased revenue from local food and drink vendors could add £24 million to the match day economy over the next 5 years. And if every Premier League and Championship club rolled out the same tech in stadiums there would be an £114m uplift.
Vendors using 5G will also help keep matchdays over the sporting summer green as well. 5G powered tech could reduce food and drink vendors’ emissions on a match day by around 450 tonnes of CO2e per season by 2029 – that’s the same as powering 14.1 million household TVs viewing a full rugby match.
In Wimbledon, this cutting-edge IoT technology has allowed family-owned businesses such as Hugh Lowe Farms in Kent to deliver more than 1.5 million fine quality strawberries to Wimbledon and modernise its practices for sustainability requirements.
Beyond the summer of 2024, 5G sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) technology will soon be monitoring customer demand during the half-time rush and therefore allow vendors to re-stock items, open new kiosks and even allow customers to order from their mobile phone so they can serve more customers, quicker, and no one misses the end of the first half queuing for a drink!
As we embrace this technological wave, stakeholders must invest in and prioritise these advancements to unlock their full potential, ensuring that every summer of sports going forward is a win-win for fans and vendors alike.