Venue News: Barclays Center Taps Cisco for Fan Experience; Browns Owner Considers Adding Stadium Roof

Compiled by Karen Hogan, Associate Editor, Sports Video Group

Barclays Center will feature Cisco’s Connected Sports and Entertainment solutions – Connected Stadium WiFi and StadiumVision. Together, these solutions will allow Barclays Center to deliver a next-generation fan experience, and make this venue one of the most technologically advanced arenas in the world. Connected Stadium WiFi will enable Barclays Center to deliver a mobile experience that today’s fans increasingly demand. Barclays Center will provide a mobile app that will bring fans closer to the action than they have ever been – regardless of where their seats are located. In addition, Cisco StadiumVision, an innovative digital video and content distribution platform that centrally controls and delivers targeted high-definition video and highly relevant digital content to fans, will power 700 HDTVs and approximately 100 concession menu boards throughout the venue. Enabling all these solutions will be a Cisco Connected Stadium intelligent network, a single innovation platform that allows Barclays Center to control wired and wireless access, security, surveillance, ticketing, and point of sale transactions…

…Incoming owner Jimmy Haslam III has not committed to adding a retractable roof to Cleveland Browns Stadium, but he assured members of Cleveland City Council that he’ll explore the possibility. In a meet-and-greet Wednesday morning, Councilman Michael Polensek said he hopes the city and Haslam can hold future discussions about the possibility, if there is one, of attaching a roof to the lakefront stadium. In response, Haslam said: “One of the first acts that we’ll do and I’ve said this several times, assuming we’re approved [as owner], is to bring in, I think there’s three nationally known stadium architects — and you’d be crazy not to talk to all three of them — and get their ideas about the stadium. We are completely open-minded, and we want to provide really two things: one, a great experience for our fans at a Browns game; the other thing, secondly — and I assume this is what everybody in this room is interested in — we want to use that facility as much as we possibly can, want to use it more than we can now. So anything that helps us do that, I’m certainly not at all saying we’re gonna do that, but we’ll certainly take a look at it.”…

…What was supposed to be the first sporting event at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn will now be one of the first cancellations as a result of the ongoing NHL lockout. The Oct. 2 exhibition game between the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils will officially be canceled in the coming days, according to Chris Botta of the Sports Business Journal. It will be the first many cancellations to come as the NHL’s owners and players continue to work on a new collective bargaining agreement. Last month Barclays Center developer Bruce Ratner admitted that he was “trying like hell” to get the Islanders to move to Brooklyn permanently. The team currently plays its home games at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island and has been trying to work out a deal for a new arena for years with little success to this point. Even though this exhibition game has been scrapped, the Barclays Center will still host hockey this season as a couple of KHL games will be held at the new arena…

…The Texas Rangers have proposed $10 million in renovations for the Ballpark in Arlington, including an additional row behind home plate and upgraded concessions. The AL West-leading Rangers would pay all labor and construction costs for the offseason improvements. The ballpark, which seats more than 49,000 on five levels, opened in April 1994. Recent upgrades include a new children’s area, center field concession stands and improved video boards and TV monitors…

…The showdown between the Edmonton Oilers and the city over a new downtown arena became a staring contest Wednesday after the mayor insisted the team appear before council to clear the air on how much public money it wants. The standoff has put the $475-million downtown arena in limbo. Construction was to start in the new year on the 18,400-seat complex, which will replace aging Rexall Place as the new home for the Oilers. The rink is being funded primarily through taxpayer dollars and a ticket tax. The Oilers have agreed to pay a portion of the construction costs: $5.5-million a year for the next 35 years. In return, Katz will keep all profits from Oilers games along with trade shows, concerts and other events at the facility. He will pay about $10-million a year to run the facility. The deal went off the rails a week ago when city officials told councillors in a closed-door session that the Oilers were now seeking more public concessions, including $6-million a year to help pay for the running of the building.

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