Case 01 00 (Future Yankee Stadium)

THE NEW YANKEES STADIUM WITH A LOOK TO THE FUTURE
Although baseball is a sport, it is also a big business that requires revenue from game
tickets, television advertising and other sources to pay the teams.
Salaries for top players have skyrocketed, as have ticket prices. Many fans now watch
games on television instead of attending them, or choose another form of entertainment,
such as electronic games.
One way to keep stadiums full of fans, as well as keep fans at home happy, is to enrich their
experience by offering more video and technology-based services.
When the New York Yankees built the new Yankee Stadium, they did just that. This new
stadium, which opened its doors on April 2, 2009, is not just another baseball stadium. It is
the stadium of the future, the one with the most cables, connections and video capacity in
all of baseball. Although the new stadium has a similar design to the original, which was
built in 1923, its interior has more space and attractions, offering more intensive use of
video and information technologies.
Baseball fans love the video. According to Ron Ricci, co-president of Cisco Systems' sports
and entertainment division, "it's what fans want, to see more angles and on their terms."
Cisco Systems supplied the information and network technologies for the new stadium.
Throughout the stadium, including the Great Hall, the Yankee Museum, restaurants and
concession stands, there are 1,200 flat-screen, high-definition HDTV monitors showing live
coverage of games, current sports scores, historical and highlight video, promotional
messages, news, weather and traffic updates. It also has a huge monitor in center field, 101
feet wide and 59 feet high.
After games, digital screens provide instant traffic information and directions to the nearest
stadium exits. The digital screens are designed so that fans can see the playing field from
any angle from the moment they enter the stadium, especially those who do not have a
direct view. The pervasiveness of this technology ensures that while fans are buying a
burger or soda, they never miss a play. The Yankees team controls all digital screens
centrally and can offer different content on each one. These screens are located at
connection points, around restaurants and bars, in bathrooms and inside the 59 luxury and
party suites. If a Yankees player wants to review a game to see how he played, digital
screens in the team's video room will show what he did from any angle. Each Yankees
player also has a monitor in his locker. Luxury suites have special touch-screen phones
that wealthy fans can use to order food and merchandise.
In the stadium's business center, Cisco's interactive video conferencing technology links
to a library in the Bronx and other locations in New York City, such as hospitals. Players
and executives can video conference and talk to fans before or after games. Later, stadium
data and video are offered on televisions and mobile devices in fans' homes. Inside the
stadium, fans in every seat will be able to use their mobile phones to place orders at
stands or watch instant replays. If they have an iPhone, an app called Venuing allows
them to communicate with each other during the game, find nearby facilities, play bar-style
trivia, and check for news updates.
The Yankees also have their own Web site, Yankees.com, where fans can watch games live
online, check scores, find out more about their favorite players, purchase game tickets, hats,
baseball cards and memories. The site also features fantasy baseball games, where fans
compete against each other by managing "fantasy teams" based on the statistics of real
players.
Sources: www.mlb.com, accessed May 5, 2010; Rena Bhattacharyya, Courtney Munroe,

and Melanie Posey, “Yankee Stadium Implements State-of-the-Art Technology from
AT&T,” www.forbescustom.com, April 13, 2010; “Venuing: An iPhone App Tailor-Made
for Yankee Stadium Insiders,” NYY Stadium Insider, March 30, 2010; Dean Meminger,
“Yankees' New Stadium is More than a Ballpark,” NY1.com, April 2, 2009.
The challenges facing the New York Yankees and other baseball teams show why
information systems are so essential today. Major League baseball is as much a business as
it is a sport, and teams like the Yankees need to receive revenue from games to stay in
business. Ticket prices have risen, stadium attendance is declining for some teams, and
sport must also compete with other forms of entertainment, including electronic gaming
and the Internet.
Solution
The opening diagram of the chapter points out the important points generated by this case
and this chapter. To increase stadium attendance and revenue, the New York Yankees
chose to modernize Yankee Stadium and rely on information technology to offer new
interactive services to fans, inside and outside the stadium. These services include high-
definition television screens showing live game coverage; information on up-to-date sports
scores, video, promotional messages, news, weather and traffic; touch-sensitive screens for
ordering food and merchandise; interactive video conferencing technology to connect with
fans and the community; mobile social networking applications; and later, the broadcast of
data and video to televisions in fans' homes and mobile devices. The Yankees website has a
new channel to interact with fans, sell game tickets and other team-related products. It is
also important to note that these technologies changed the way the Yankees operate their
business activities. Yankee Stadium's systems for delivering game coverage, information
and interactive services changed the workflow for ticket sales, seating arrangements, crowd
management, ordering food and other concession items. These changes had to be carefully
planned to ensure they improved service, efficiency and profitability.

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THE NEW YANKEES STADIUM WITH A LOOK TO THE FUTURE

Sources: www.mlb.com, accessed May 5, 2010; Rena Bhattacharyya, Courtney Munroe,

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