Technology has never been an afterthought at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
About 4,000 miles of fiber optic cables were installed in the stadium when it opened nearly eight years ago, enough to link Atlanta to Dublin, Ireland. This type of technology does two things: it provides reliable and fast internet connectivity, and allows the stadium to keep up with fans’ increasing demand for bandwidth.
As Mercedes-Benz Stadium prepares to host this upcoming season’s College Football Playoff National Championship and eight matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, its managers say this investment is paying off.
Fans are requiring greater and faster internet capacity as livestreaming and the use of social media sites like TikTok become more prevalent. The amount of data each fan used at stadium events doubled after the COVID-19 pandemic, said Kevin Pope, chief information officer of stadium operator AMB Sports and Entertainment. To meet this demand, over the past year the stadium has added an additional 1,000 miles of fiber, updated the underlying infrastructure running over the cables and began upgrading its wireless network.
“A lot of the work that we’re doing right now is [because] we have to plan for what’s coming in 2026,” Pope said.
Improving and advancing the stadium’s technology has been a focus of AMBSE over the past three years. The purpose: enhancing visitors’ experiences at the stadium by reducing wait times, crowds and other inefficiencies.
There’s no playbook for what AMBSE is doing, said Karl Pierburg, AMBSE’s chief technology officer. They’re not following a precedent set by other stadiums.
The stadium replaced traditional metal detectors with an artificial intelligence-based screening system that eliminates the need for fans to remove items from their pockets or bags. Facial authentication technology was introduced at some of the entrances, so that a quick screen of a fan’s face will pull up their tickets. There are checkout-free grab-and-go markets and self-service spirit machines, and fans can use an in-house app to pay for parking, food and merchandise without getting out their wallets.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
Tim Zulawski, the president of AMBSE, declined to put a price tag on the investment.
“These are not seven figure investments,” Zulawski said. “These are much more than that.”
As for preparing for the World Cup, AMBSE is still in a discovery stage. The city will not know which matches it will hold until December of next year, which will be a crucial step in understanding the audiences that will visit the stadium. But as part of this, AMBSE will send team members to other countries and non-English speaking events to better understand fans’ interactions in spaces where they are unfamiliar with the language. They’ll look at the frustrations and the frictions in handling transportation to their hotel and to the stadium, how they order food or handle ticketing at the stadium, among other areas.
AMBSE has been in talks with FIFA, which has “pretty big aspirations and things they want to accomplish across all venues,” said Gordon Barfield, vice president of business innovation. He declined to elaborate further, but FIFA officials have toured and will continue to visit the stadium to ensure all processes are running smoothly, from the lights and sound system to the Wi-Fi.
But the stadium’s existing technology infrastructure has laid the groundwork for any advancements AMBSE will want to accomplish as the dates of these marquee events near.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
“FIFA is going to be unlike other events that we’ve had here in the past,” said Pope. “So we’re making sure that all of our underlying technology can support that demand from fans.”
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