Q&A: Sports Port - September 2004  

Continuing its series of questions and answers with companies influencing the digital sports space in the UK and Europe, Sport and Technology spoke to Andrew Doe, CEO of WiFi access company Sports Port.

Please describe why Sports Port was launched and what the company does

"We launched Sports Port to accelerate the deployment of WiFi networks in sports venues. We provide a complete managed service taking care of design and installation of the network, as well as access control, security, billing and support. We work closely with clubs and venues to maximise revenues from the system. Equally we work with the media, who are typically the heaviest users of WiFi in stadiums at present, to help them use WiFi more effectively."

Who are your main sports clients?

"We manage 25 sites, currently mostly soccer clubs as we have been working on a roll out with the Football League for the last 12 months. Our largest site is Cardiff's Millennium Stadium where our system was thoroughly put through its paces at the FA Cup Final and other high profile events earlier this year. We are following up with installations at other sports venues throughout this year."

Source: EMPICS

For our readers unfamiliar with WiFi, please could you describe how the technology works.

"Using a WiFi-enabled laptop or PDA you connect to a public 'hotspot' via a short-range radio link. Typically, you either pay-as-you-go via a web interface or subscribe to a service provider to get access. If your laptop is not already WiFi enabled, you just need a PC card or network dongle to get connected. A good site to visit for further details about WiFi is www.wi-fi.org."

What are the advantages of WiFi compared with other access technologies?

"WiFi is like wireless broadband. With respect to other mobile technologies such as GPRS, the speed of data communication is key - WiFi is comparable to broadband whereas GPRS is more like analogue dial-up. With respect to internet access via traditional phone lines or ISDN, apart from not having to order/book/find your line, the best thing is not having to be tethered to a wired connection. For a photographer in a sports venue you can get a wireless broadband connection pitchside as long as the WiFi coverage is sufficiently extensive."

How can sports rights holders benefit from WiFi technology?

"WiFi will continue to develop as one of a range of wireless technologies alongside 3G, WiMAX and UWB. Each technology has its own specific characteristics, but as a whole able to deliver much higher-bandwidth content to consumers out of home, whether they are located in the sports venue or elsewhere."

How can they monetise it with their commercial partners and fans?

"WiFi is a great way of collecting content and potentially opens up a number of innovative commercial applications, even if that content is distributed today via SMS or 3G. However, with a WiFi network the stadium owner will benefit from a share of access revenues, not necessarily the case with other wireless technologies."

Do you think there are any factors holding back the uptake of WiFi in the UK or overseas generally?

"Other than T-Mobile in the UK, and Orange in France, the mobile operators have not yet fully embraced WiFi. As they implement more seamless handover and start to bring their full marketing power to bear on combined GPRS/3G/WiFi packages for high data users we will see significantly greater uptake. In the meantime, it would be helpful to see more roaming deals between WiFi operators to open up the base of hotspots to all - watch out for future announcements regarding our technology platform in this respect."

When do you think WiFi will have mass consumption in the UK or overseas sports events - i.e. not just used predominantly by the media?

"This is dependent on getting more WiFi enabled devices into people's hands and pockets. Motorola's first WiFi/GSM phone (Motorola MPx) is about to hit the streets."

Are there any uses of WiFi outside the UK that you consider to be innovative or successful? Please describe them.

"The anecdotal evidence from photographers we speak to is that PSV Eindhoven [a leading Dutch soccer club] has the best WiFi service of any sports venue - and it's free apparently. We're in the process of carrying out a Europe-wide survey to verify the status of WiFi in Europe versus the UK, so we should be able to confirm this one way or another in the near future. In the US, a number of stadia have been offering free WiFi. In my mind, the most innovative and cost effective way to use WiFi is to run both internal stadium applications (such as wireless EPOS, ticketing, CCTV, etc) and public internet access across the same infrastructure. We have a secure robust way of doing this and it is now starting to happen."

How do you plan to grow Sports Port as a company?

"We're going to continue to concentrate on providing great service to our two customer groups - (i) sports venues and (ii) the media. We're actively signing up new venues all the time and working on innovative applications that go beyond standard WiFi."

The next Q&A will feature Paul Wright, managing director of Aura Sports

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