welcome to zcast everyone I'm Zs caraval from ZK research and I'm delighted to be at Lumen field in Seattle home of the Seattle Seahawks and also the Seattle Sounders I'm joined by chip subtles is the VP of it for the Seahawks chip uh you know can give us a quick in on yourself and what you do here yeah so um again my name is Chip sules I'm the vice president of technology for the football operations and Lumen Field Stadium um I oversee the traditional it and the technical operations of the stadium and I'm going on my 12th season as we like to call it wow yeah that's a long time now one of the things that's fascinating about Seattle the football team the stadium even before at the kingom is this city this stadium has always been known for its awesome Fan Experience the fans you retired the number 12 right because the fans are an important part of the game tell me how the the team and you you from an IT perspective thinks about Fan Experience and the role techn he plays in that yeah the fans are certainly important part of our whole Fan Experience um the twelves are vital to uh the community and to our team they bring the energy uh last night we uh we were able to play a Monday night football game on prime time and you can feel the energy the the players the coaches just take it to another level really just makes for just unbelievable excitement and uh really something that we can rally around and as as a result you know they were refer to as the TW because they're the 12th man essentially and you know feel a part of the team so yeah I remember when uh when that was retired just a kid then that was pretty cool and so can you talk about um you know how you um go about thinking how to integrate Tech into it I know you you and I have talked before with the voice the fan uh study that you do can you go through that and just give me an idea what um you know how that works and how you use it yeah so the NFL invests a lot into the the experience experience that the stadiums put on and as a result they uh they they uh sponsor a survey that's done at every home game for all NFL teams and this survey looks at about eight significant categories um from The Fan Experience Point r view and provides those results back to the teams a couple days after every home game we put a lot of emphasis on that because we want to have the best Fan Experience we possibly can and as a result um you know that that enables us to get the funding to look for areas we can improve and just work on our overall game day experience and uh it's it's been for me it's been a a great thing because I feel like all those eight categories are relying on technology in some form or fashion uh one of the categories is mobile ticketing and you know how do we rate the mobile ticket experience and you know that's that's relying on connectivity as soon as you step onto our property and being able to pull up your tickets and access the venue so that's one um there's a stadium technology category there's a a game entertainment category and all those categories have components that are very reliant on having you know the best and reliable um and available you know connectivity and and a and a tech features to make them make them go and tell me about the connectivity here I know the network here is massive right and you have an interesting job because uh uh you think of a large Enterprise 10,000 20,000 employees but on game day you got 70,000 people coming in out of here that's not including employees right so what what is the infrastructure in the network like here yeah so the network is is vital um I would say you know you look at us you're looking at our brand you're talking about our game day experience with up to close to 70,000 people in our Stadium uh it comes down to and starts with having the network and the infrastructure to be able to support everything that we want to do at the stadium uh Lumen plays a big role in that uh everything from the internet service provision of our circuits to uh the back end when we uh our broadcast circuits to actually get our video and our game day footage out to the world so along the way um there's a lot of other components we we um we've expanded our network over the years we we rely on Lumen to uh provision those components and those Network components to make that happen for us um and to me I think having uh High availability High reliability on all of our connectivity is important it starts with that that backbone and that Network so we can get the speed and and the traffic flowing for our patrons can you give me a sense of the scope though like how many access points what kind of bandwidth you have coming in here certainly so you know I think I keep talking about the connectivity makes a great experience one of the things we were fortunate to do with the help of uh Lumen it was do a design and implementation of a Wi-Fi 6 ax um deployment in 2020 and you were one of the first right yeah we were one of the first stadiums at the time to to roll out that that Wi-Fi protocol with Lumen support and you know we we rolled out um 1,500 access points throughout throughout the whole venue uh with over 750 to 800 in in the stadium Bowl itself wow um and we took an approach that we wanted to go under seat a little differently so it's a combination of UND seat and overhead but the Design's worked really well we've seen record number of data transfers and connectivity on game day and um you know our patrons have been responsive in their surveys as the voice of the fan results have shown um we're SC seeing some of the highest marks that we've ever seen yeah give me a sense of what what would the throughput be for an average game a concert you know those types of things to give us a sense of just how much traffic is across your network now yeah so it's it's hard to to get the full scale because we rely on Wi-Fi and cellular for connectivity at on a game day but on a typical Wi-Fi utilization we're we're looking at about 26 27,000 unique connections we're looking at about 22 23,000 concurrent connections at any given time and we're seeing traffic anywhere from 6 to 10 terabytes um depending on the G game and what's going on within the game certainly uh on the big events like touchdowns and um you know we see a spike in the traffic and we'll res that 8 and 10 terabytes and then we have the abnomalities like when we're able to host a concert like Taylor Swift yeah and uh that's always the high water we're really able to test our connectivity we're seeing 24 25 26 terabytes of traffic at at some concerts yeah if you can stand up to T Swift you can stand up to any football game it's fascinating that you're pushing that much traffic through I remember uh cuz I look at the stats every year but just seemed like a handful of years ago a Super Bowl hit one tbyte right right now you're doing 10 times at every game so right yeah no it's great for the fans it it makes them feel um a little bit more secure knowing that they can reach home reach their babysitters uh come enjoy the experience and feel safely connected and more importantly share their experience you know we like the idea that that they're they're posting on social um they're they're sharing their experience it's good for our brand it's good for them and and that makes for a more enjoyable evening I did a lot of that last night posting so uh now this is a stadium you talked about being first with Wi-Fi uh Wi-Fi 6 or 6E and um uh what are some of the other first in here I know you've got some other interesting technologies that make it easier for fans to buy things like just walk up but talk about some of the other first that you've had in here or near firsts yeah certainly so we've uh We've leaned into a term called fan evation so uh one of our marketing directors came up with that that great term which I think reflects what we're trying to accomplish was to try to find technology and and Innovation that that improves The Fan Experience overall so in the past we've looked at clear for Expediting our our lanes currently we're working with our partner Amazon and we're looking at just walkout stores yeah we really uh leaned into it um we've converted our traditional food and beverage concessions into these just walk out experiences and they just make for um a great experience for the for the patron um it's kind of a win-win win in my opinion if you ever experienced it or had the opportunity you can walk into a store either with a biometric Palm Reader um you know Amazon one or you can go in with a credit card and just grab your grab your item of food or drink and just walk right out and the results are fantastic because it's it's friction list it's the speed of service um you know it's increased the revenue at the concession sites that we put them in and it just it's great for our partnership and strengthening our partnership with Amazon as well so I I hope to see more um we currently have eight the most in any pro sports team in the country so yeah in fact uh I've gotten used to it the first time I used it and people give this feedback all the time you almost feel like you're doing something wrong because it's too easy yeah I have to agree that uh to walk into a store and pick something up put it in your pocket and walk out takes it's a different experience um but once you see the uh the value in that and the speed of transaction and how the you know there's no cues no lines and you know at a football game or a sporting event um you know everybody's trying to get to to the to buy their their beverage of choice um all at the same time because if you don't have it they're going to score a touchdown when you're in line that always happens so so the quicker we can get you through that uh the better we're looking at all kinds of ways to make that happen we've um also been working with Amazon to integrate their Amazon one which is a biometric Palm Reader with our food and beverage point of sale so that they have that option too that uh they can use their palm and their account online to to make their transactional purchase yeah and other bring age verification to that too so that'll be cool we are talking to the liquor cannabis board about the idea of using age verification with a biometric um it's not quite approved yet but we're we're looking at that as something maybe in the future good good now I want to go back to Lumen uh while they're the name on The Stadium uh Lumen field they're more than that right as a partner so uh just give me a sense of the scope of what Lumen helps you with yeah so Lumen is uh is is vital um you know you think of the Seahawks you think of the brand but really we're small business and uh I really have a small it operational team and a technical operational team and I'm really as a result I'm really riant on my technical partners and Lumen is probably our is our most vital partner um let me try that again Lumen is our most vital partner uh to make that happen so and when I say that is it all starts with we provision the majority of our Hardware through Lumen uh we're dependent on the internet service uh you know being an internet service provider and the and the primary circuits that run our football and business operations that also bring the Operational Support for game day Lumen over the years has helped us with our phone systems both at our headquarters and at the stadium um they've helped most recently with our latest Wi-Fi deployment and then we're looking at new fanation ideas with Lumen as well and ways we can improve our digital signage distribution uh to support our menu boards and you know all our screens around the stadium on game day oh that's great now uh I know another big event coming up for you you not that you don't have enough of them at the state between concerts and games is FIFA 26 right and that's going to bring an entirely I think another level a fan uh type of fan here so how are you preparing for that yeah FIFA 26 is a great opportunity for the city of Seattle and we're we're um we're honored to be selected as one of the host host stadiums for FIFA 26 here at lenfield stadium and and you know it's early days so I don't really have all the it requirements but my experience um prior to joining the a was with several Olympic committees and I have some idea what to expect so I think it's it's a lot to do with flexibility I think again lum's going to play a role in this I think we're going to increase we have to increase our bandwidth to be able to support um the additional operational needs that FIFA brings because it's a world stage World caliber event uh I I feel like they're going to use our stadium in ways that probably haven't been seen before so we have to be flexible in the sense that uh operational spaces that are normally used for storage or maybe a parking lot or maybe extending our perimeter might be where we do security check-ins or ticket ticket checks or things so I got to I I got to feel that um flexibility is going to be key increas in our bandwidth is going to be key and again we'll be looking our at our partners to help us get there awesome yeah that's great now I wouldn't be doing my job as an analyst if I didn't ask you about artificial intelligence in fact I think it's amazing we've gone this long without talking about it so when you think of AI obviously you know generative AI become a very hot topic how are you thinking about that both from an internal operation standpoint though and what you might do from a fan perspective yeah this a great question so as it comes as in regards to AI I would say that overall the organization is um just dipping their toes we're taking a slow approach kind of a wait and see um we usually like to be first but in this case we're we're uh first off we're starting with what's the strategy and who sets the strategy within the organization we we formed a little committee where I'll be a part of with legal and our chief data strategy officer and we'll look at what's the direction best suited for the Seahawks when it comes to AI um we have you know uh explored a couple ideas already we use a chat bot on our mobile app to help the customer experience on game day uh we've done some creative artwork on Game Day posters using some AI um we even looked at our Sports Science team um we've done some AI machine learning on evaluation of film study so we we started to explore some ideas but for us it's it's what's the strategy do we have the proper governance in place um the League's been helpful on that aspect as far as providing a template to allow us to put some governance in place and to me I I think we got to educate our our employees to understand and protect protect them from themselves as they use Ai and I'm really excited because to be honest I don't know what the future holds for it but I I feel like um it's around the corner and when it opens the door opens we're going to we're going to have to get on board quickly yeah so well I I do uh applaud you for taking a responsible approach to it there's some companies that have rushed into it and I I think it's gone negatively for them so just considering the amount of data you have from your fans here I would think that respons was more important yeah I mean our culture overall is one of data you know our our president leans into the uh the Mantra that everything must be measured so we rely heavily on our metrics and uh we're becoming a data culture and I think AI is just going to be the next step on how to how to use that data in a proper way and you're right to be responsible with how we approach it comes with more education a little bit of governance and and just um you know it's a copycat league and uh we want to see how other teams use it and what to what advantage and maybe share some ideas and I'm sure we'll be ready to jump on it when when the time comes yeah well good for you so uh are there any other kind of emerging technologies that you're thinking about well always looking at new ideas I I'd say we're going to continue to work with our partners like Amazon and explore this idea of Amazon one and this Biometrics um we're going to continue to expand our just walk out stores they've been successful the fan feedback has been positive uh so I I think that's the way we'll approach that um right now I I don't have any other things I could share that uh at well I had to ask yeah no certainly certainly I don't mind you asking uh we'll continue to look for for things we can improve um I will say that a stadium lenfield stadium is 22 years old now and we put a lot of Pride into the maintenance and modernization and I have been fortunate enough to get the funding to keep the stadium up to speed so there are some things I will share that we're going to upgrade that are current services that are will be enhanced we're going to change our our audio system from analog to digital we're going to add new loudspeakers um we're going to update all our LED um products in the bowl and a lot of our premium spaces to have more of a a higher definition um screens so that you know and more screens so they can be more stats and more information for the fans um so I think that'll be a positive thing as well so you know they they might seem like they're they're not new but to me they're they're exciting projects and they keep our Stadium up to speed so all right well so that's the end of the technical talk it's let's have some fun now and first of all congratulations on the win last night that was tremendously exciting thank you uh but when you think of all the moments that have happened at this field is are there a couple that stand on your mind favorite moment at Lumen field yeah so I'm going into uh season 12 I've been here just over you know 11 and a half years with the with the team and it's been fortunate enough to experience a couple Super Bowl runs and I I have to think back to the NFC championship games that we were hosting certainly the Richard Sherman uh tip that led to an interception in the corner of the end zone against the ners against the ners of course was one of my favorite uh favorite memories um but just you know just being able to stand on the field and feel the energy and kick off uh every game just revitalizes me you know like a like a kid when I was playing football again so it it's all been a a great ride and fun to be a part of yeah when I think of the Great Moments here I mean there was that there was the Packer game uh you know where they came from behind uh there was of course the Fail Mary in the strike game the one that always stands out in my mind was the one where Marshon Lynch ran through the entire Saints defense and stiff armed I think four or five people on the way to a touchdown yes yes that's called the that event you're referring to is called Beast quake and it happened a year before I joined the joined the team so uh I'd say I I missed that but uh from all the replays I wish I had have been in the house that day um I will I will throw in the uh the story of co uh you know during the co year we were one of the few uh states that did not allow fans in the building so only operational staff were allowed here in in the building and to be in the stadium and listening to the team support their teammates on the field uh firsthand and hear the players supporting each other that was a unique experience in itself too and uh you know just to be in a in a full Stadium or a stadium that's empty of people you know playing playing event on this stage it was a really unique experience but awesome but I'd love to see how the team rallied to support each other the coaches and the players to their teammates out on the field and do you have a favorite player that's played in your tenure I mean Russ is the obvious one but well Wilson and I are both from Richmond Virginia so I certainly have a you know a favoritism towards him and enjoyed his tenure when he was here um but I have to say uh my favorite player on the Seahawks is Tyler Lockett I think pound-for-pound he's one of the the fiercest competitors toughest and most intellectual players we have on the team and uh you know I'd love to see him get out there and compete yeah well he always shows up so anything else you want to add no thank you for your time no thank you very much for joining me so on behalf of Chip subtles from the Seattle Seahawks I'm Zs caraval from ZK saying thanks for watching make sure you hit that subscribe button and I'll see you next time on another zcast
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