Although the Cardinals did not win the Super Bowl, there is nothing wrong with their reception. The Arizona Cardinals are always striving for perfection on and off the field; whether they are moving the ball on the NFL's top defense and staging 83-yard drives that end with Kurt Warner hitting tight end Ben Patrick for a touchdown, or outfitting their home field with ubiquitous wireless connectivity for fans.
The state-of-the-art University of Phoenix stadium used by the Arizona Cardinals football team sports the latest wireless technology that makes today’s stadiums a more enjoyable and safe experience for millions of fans. Located in Glendale, Ariz., the 1.7 million-square-foot facility hosted the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Bowl Championship Series National Championship games, along with Super Bowl XLII and the regional basketball tournament for NCAA men’s basketball.
This 63,400-seat stadium (expandable to 73,000) opened in August 2006 after three years of construction. It is considered an architectural icon for the region and includes a retractable roof and roll-in natural grass field.
Communications Challenge
The Cardinals wanted to achieve a wireless triple play: 1) a single communications system that could accommodate multiple needs, from fans to public safety officials; 2) communications for the Cardinals corporate staff; and 3) coverage across almost 2 million square feet.
Solution
Mark Feller, senior director of technology for the Arizona Cardinals, wanted to keep the system flexible to accommodate a variety of mobile devices and achieve the three major goals for use. His vision was in concert with the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, which owns and operates the stadium and books it for football as well as a variety of events from soccer matches to expositions and concerts. Cellular Specialties Inc. (CSI) was chosen to engineer a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) specifically designed to provide coverage for the stadium, working closely with the Cardinals organization to ensure the communication needs were met. CSI also oversaw the entire installation process.
From among the number of available equipment options, CSI and the Cardinals chose to use MobileAccess’ Universal Wireless Network system as a portion of the system. Bi- directional amplifiers (BDA), made by CSI, were also used in the design of this system. With the ability to receive signals from 450MHz to 6GHz, the network can support virtually any combination of wireless services, including cellular and paging from multiple operators, Wi-Fi, two-way radio and telemetry.
“One of the big things was that we wanted to ensure that customers in the building would be able to use the wireless device of their choice, whether it is a cell phone, personal digital assistant or laptop,” said Feller.
The system also can support public safety communications in the 450MHz and 800MHz bands.
