Super Bowl LIX takes place this Sunday at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana
In preparation for Super Bowl LIX taking place at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, Verizon installed about 509 5G UltraWideband and 155 C-band radios inside the venue. Guillermo Salinas, Verizon’s senior director of network performance, told RCR Wireless News that planning for this deployment began roughly three and half years ago and that it has also invested heavily in network densification across the entire city.
Specifically, he explained that Verizon has installed tons of small cells in Woldenberg Park — which is where the French Quarter Festival takes place — as well as all across Bourbon Street, and throughout the French quarter. In addition, the telco has deployed more than 560 miles of fiber in the greater New Orleans area. “This is enough fiber to wrap around the Caesar super dome like 869 times — one of my guys counted,” Salinas said. “The city gets about 18 million tourists every year. These systems across the city will help not just for the Super Bowl, but also for events like Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest. These investments are here to stay. They are not just for one event; they’re for the community.”
Back inside the Superdome, which can accommodate more than 70,000 people, Verizon mounted 42 MatSing ball antennas to the stadium’s catwalk rings on the ceiling and installed a 750-watt backup generator in case of a power failure. More 4G LTE, 5G, mmWave and C-band spectrum has also been added.
“We will also be displaying out Frontline assets,” Salinas said, adding that these are primarily temporary fixtures that provide connectivity during natural disasters and other public safety scenarios. He said that while there hasn’t been much need for such temporary assets at the superdome due to the amount of planning, the assets will be there if needed and will be ready to go at “a moment’s notice.”
For those attending the Super Bowl, the upgraded network will mean the ability to live-stream the game as well as use event-specific smartphone applications designed to enhance the live fan experience. “Latency is one big thing we have been able to break through. Our latency is so good now that we can do many things in real-time,” claimed Salinas.
Verizon has been working with the NFL for a long time, developing use cases like coach-to-coach communications with a managed private wireless solution in all stadiums, and various the fan-oriented experiences like low-latency video — productized as Verizon 5G Multi-View — which enables fans to view up to seven simultaneous camera angles, allowing them watch a game on their phone from different angles and go back and review moments from the game. At some stadiums, Verizon deployed a technology that divides crowds into sectors “like slices of a pie,” allowing engineers to adjust each slice individually to curate the network performance based on where stadium attendees move and how they use data. Additionally, Verizon said that its 5G network allows stadium operators to enabling autonomous or cashier-less retail, accelerated access and crowd analytics, all of which further improve the fan in-stadium experience.
