Ever notice how much bigger JumboTrons are getting? Or how many things you can do at stadiums that actually have very little to do with the actual game?
Maybe you’re finding that you’re spending more time watching the HD stadium screen than you spend watching the players on the field. The monstrous television is both magnificent and distracting, which may say more about the future of sports stadiums than you realize.
The Business Insider Sports Page lists 14 innovations that will make stadiums of the future almost unrecognizable.
The recurring theme is that convenience is key, and you’ll be overloaded with more options and access to information, players and entertainment than ever before. And the choices certainly sound appealing.
If you’re a fantasy nut, players’ complete statistics will be available in real time.
If you’re a parent with kids that need to be distracted, more rides and games will be accessible throughout the stadium.
If you snuck out of the office for a game, free wifi throughout the venue will help keep you connected to work.
As a fan, you’ll be swept up by countless options tailor-made for you.
It sounds exciting, but is it really what we want? Will we be so swept up by information and access that we’ll actually be distracted from real sports? Will games become less of an escape if we’re always connected to the outside world? Where will the where-were-you moments go if we were there, but didn’t actually see the play?
Some of these innovations sound great. In fact, they all do. But if they make stadiums so user-friendly, it does raise the question: What’s wrong with what we’ve got now?
