The International Hockey Federation (FIH) have announced today major format changes to the sport which they hope will expand the appeal of hockey worldwide. 

From September 1, sale sale major FIH events such as the Champions Trophy, Hockey World League Final and Rio 2016 Olympic Games will assume a new format that includes moving to four 15-minute quarters and having 40-second time-outs when a penalty corner is awarded and after a goal is scored. The new system replaces the traditional two 35 minute halves.

Leandro Negre, President of FIH, said: “The decision demonstrates our commitment to fan engagement. With the additional breaks, fans will have the opportunity to enjoy more replays and be more engaged with the event, whether in the stadium or watching from a far, while hockey commentators will be allowed more time to provide sport analysis between plays.

Overall game time will move from 70 minutes to a 60-minute game with four 15-minute quarters.

The new format has already been tried out in the Euro Hockey League and in India.

Listen to FIH CEO Kelly Fairweather talk exclusively to iSportconnect about the changes

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Stadium designers need to anticipate the needs of tomorrow’s consumers and consider technology habits and behavior to ensure the infrastructure of a building remains competitive and to help create new opportunities for revenue streams. With mobile technology on the rise and fans’ needs and expectations evolving, Wi-Fi has become a hot topic.

Consider this, 61 percent of all mobile phone subscribers own a smartphone, according to the Nielsen Co. In early 2008, just 10 percent of subscribers owned a smartphone. And according to Cisco Sports and Entertainment, there are more mobile-connected devices than there are people on the planet. My colleague, Kelly Kerns, discusses the importance of Wi-Fi to the fan experience and how through renovations and new builds, Wi-Fi helps create a connected, and enviable, fan experience. 

We all know the feeling. You’re sitting at an event – an NFL game, a baseball game, a concert– and you’re trying to send a text. Or post a photo. Or check scores. And your phone, try as it might, just can’t get service, let alone internet access. It’s a feeling all too familiar – many stadiums are behind in terms of connectivity. But luckily, this is changing, as leagues and teams realize the importance of creating an in-stadium experience that is worth leaving the house for, which includes connectivity and accessibility. The NFL, in late 2013, was the first to set Wi-Fi / Cell standards, something that we can expect will be mimicked in other leagues shortly.

The NFL is on track. Creating a connected environment – one in which fans can seamlessly access live feeds of information, share their experiences via social media and engage with the team and game through a mobile device – is more important than ever before. The modern fan’s expectations have evolved and as much as they enjoy the game, they are accustomed to having constant connectivity to the outside world. Millennials in particular are more interested in using their phone to share their experiences externally, rather than to obtain information. During the game, Millennials want to send texts to their friends , upload photos to Instagram and tweet real-time updates. The increasing trend of uploading videos is creating an even greater demand for high density Wi-Fi access. Older generations have traditionally been more interested in accessing information during a game – specifically statistics and scores from other games.

Beyond providing access to the outside world, in-stadium, venue or team specific apps can encourage the sharing of information with others and can also provide a marketing opportunity. By creating apps and other exclusive content, as is the case at stadiums like Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., the team can market specifically to their fans, opening up additional revenue streams. It also provides an opportunity to obtain data on a team’s fan base by tracking their behavior. Teams can gather critical information – from how they use the network to what websites they visit to how likely they are to click on an ad from one of the team’s sponsors. It also allows teams the opportunity to target their marketing to a fan to improve their overall experience.

But the real question is, how do we implement this?

Wi-Fi should be a consideration from the earliest stages of the design of a new stadium or renovation. A team will have to make an investment or negotiate a deal with providers to install the technology needed to support cellular and Wi-Fi networks in the stadium, but from everything we’ve seen, it will be a worthwhile one. In the earliest conversations with stakeholders about design, Wi-Fi and connectivity expectations should be discussed. We often outline what it will take to create a fully connected stadium and the opportunities it provides them to market to fans.

Key elements consist of:

• – A fiber backbone connecting a series of equipment closets distributed at strategic intervals encompassing the stadium.
• – Equipment closets contain switches and network equipment to drive the information highway
• – Radiating out from each closet are antennas for the DAS system or wireless access points for the Wi-Fi system
• – Ensuring you have enough pipe and wire inside network to support necessary demands depending on stadium size and number of users
• – Once the infrastructure is in place, equipment and end-devices can change (antennas, wireless access points) to meet evolving technology 

At stadiums like Sporting Park,  the final design hinged upon accessibility to a high-density Wi-Fi connection. It impacts many design decisions, because what we presented had to be functional on a different level. While it’s a smaller stadium – seating 18,467 fans – it is also considered the most connected in America. A large part of that connectivity comes from the infrastructure of the facility. The stadium is wired with 146 miles of fiber that delivers high speed internet with separate DAS and Wi-Fi systems. As we designed the stadium, we were told that administration and executives wanted to have internet access in every, single area of the stadium – including service areas and loading docks. While we were able to accomplish this very effectively, after the opening, the team has continued to experiment with antenna locations and distribution to determine how the team can provide the best, and fastest, internet access possible. They’ve also found new ways to engage fans – like running their tweets and Instagram posts on the video board during games and sending targeted offers on everything from concessions to merchandise to their fans during games.

This is easier to integrate when you’re starting from scratch, but becomes more complex when you’re renovating a facility and you aren’t able to custom design each and every corner of the building with that level of connectivity in mind. In the case of Ralph Wilson Stadium’s renovation, in New York, we are just beginning to design the DAS and Wi-Fi systems to serve the nearly 40 year old stadium. While the bulk of its distribution network will be integrated with the infrastructure backbone being implemented with the stadium upgrades,  its antennas and branch cabling feeds will likely be surface mounted and more visible than if designed and installed with the original construction.  While there are definite challenges, technology continues to advance rapidly and without Wi-Fi, many fan experiences will fall behind. With more and more third party vendors providing infrastructure to make this possible in existing venues at a minimal upfront cost, it’s an obvious next step for any team planning to renovate.

As Sasha Victorine of Sporting Innovations explains in this article for Digital Trends, “You have to think about getting people into your building. You look across to all leagues now, and everybody’s looking at, if I’m in the building, am I getting content that I can’t get at home? Am I getting things that I can’t get somewhere else? Because if that’s the case, then that’s maybe a benefit for me to come.”

And he’s exactly right. Coming to the stadium has become about something bigger than the game itself, because the game is now accessible anywhere. The stadium has to offer fans an experience they won’t be able to get elsewhere, where they feel they are part of the event and can share their participation with outside friends. And in the connected world we live in, Wi-Fi is critical to accomplishing that. 

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Richard Breslin is a Senior Principal at Populous and a Director of the Asian/Pacific office headquartered in Brisbane. Richard also sits on the worldwide strategic Board of Populous. Richard is responsible for all of the firm’s projects in New Zealand and Australia.

Richard is currently leading the Populous team on the Darling Harbour Live project in Sydney in a HASSELL+ Populous joint venture. The $750M project includes the design of a convention centre, exhibition centre and theatre. He is also Director in charge of the redevelopment of Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne.

In 1997, Richard commenced work with the team on the design of Stadium Australia (now ANZ Stadium), the main venue for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. At this time, he also worked on the event overlay for the Games before moving to London where he worked on the design of the 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium, and the design of the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He was also project leader for Populous’ successful master plan for the London 2012 Olympic Park.

In 2007, Richard immigrated to New Zealand, where he led the teams on Eden Park redevelopment in Auckland and Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin; – both were venues for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. 

Richard’s 

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Kelly Kerns is a Principal at Populous. Kelly has more than 30 years of architectural and management experience. He has served in a project leadership role on numerous sports and large scale projects throughout his career. Kelly has extensive experience in all aspects of project development from inception to execution, and his responsibilities include project leadership, master planning, strategic project development, programming, budgeting, and project delivery. He has spent the last 15 years focused on NFL and collegiate projects. 

Notable projects he has led include Northwestern University Athletics and Recreation Facilities Master Plan, Arrowhead Stadium Renovation and Chiefs Training Facility, Buffalo Bills Training Facility Expansion and the Aloha Stadium Improvements Master Plan.

Kelly’s 

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With more and more overseas talent on the payroll, complex international transfers, and global supply bases, sports businesses commit to future FX transactions almost every time they strike business deals. But do they spend enough time thinking about how much they could lose if currencies move against them?

No-one can reliably predict future exchange rates, so it pays to get your business some protection against adverse movements.  The amounts that it can save you can be very substantial!

At least $4 trillion is traded on the foreign exchange markets every day, making the foreign exchange market a very volatile and daunting place to do business.  Given this, it always surprises me that, even when organisations have a large foreign exchange requirement, it is one of the last things to be considered in a long list of priorities!

We work with a number of well-known teams and clubs within the sports world. We don’t just help them achieve superior exchange rates – but more importantly we help them implement FX risk management strategies that offer protection against adverse movements.

Let’s take an example from football;

You’re a UK-based football club and you are buying a player from within the Eurozone at a bargain price of 10 million Euros. To make it simple, let’s assume that the deal has been structured so you pay 50 percent now and 50 percent in twelve months time. We will also assume that the deal was negotiated and done in January 2011 when the rate to purchase Euros was 1.1950, so 10 million Euros would have cost £8,368,200. Fifty percent was due so you have only paid £4,184,100. Now we are in late-October and you are planning to pay the remaining balance. But now the rate is 1.13! So the cost of the remaining 50 percent is now £4,424,778; an increase of more than £240K! What else could you have done with that money? How much effort would your commercial director have to have made to get a sponsorship deal worth £240,000?

RationalFX’s risk management team could have saved you all – if not more – than £240,000 in the above example. We would have suggested that you fix the exchange rate for the remaining balance at the time of the deal – to give you a clear idea of what 10 million Euros was going to cost from the offset. And if you were more inclined to take risk, we would at least have placed Stop Losses in the market, which would have ensured that you didn’t pay over a certain amount even if the market moved against you.

Another example could be from the world of Formula One; another area where we have worked with some of the top teams.  Many F1 businesses operate with a lot of revenues and costs in both US Dollars and UK Sterling – and they move money between their accounts depending on the balance of income and expenditure.

With sponsorship stage payments normally predictable they can lock into an exchange rate for an entire season and make their income predictable in more than one currency.  This can make the job of budgeting and financial management a whole lot easier when compared to a situation where the month’s income depends on whether the market likes or hates the latest speech from a Central Banker!  Or the decisions of the Greek Government!

In FX, timing is everything; the recent sharp plunge in the value of the Euro is a great illustration of the impact of timing.  Many businesses assume currencies will rise and fall – and that if currencies have move against them then they will have the opportunity again to buy currency at the peaks – or troughs.

The reality is that time and time again businesses don’t take an objective view regarding timing and are often forced by circumstances to make purchases at the worst possible times.  Waiting for a currency to move in your favour while delaying foreign currency payments can result in the complete opposite effect to what you hope for – you buy late, and at the wrong price.

Talking to an FX specialist like RationalFX is not just about getting bank-beating exchange rates, it’s about getting ahead and above the currency markets and trying to remove the negative impact that adverse currency movements can have on your business.

Do I know what could happen to the Euro if Greece default on its debts and it starts a domino-effect of countries withdrawing (voluntarily or otherwise) from the Euro?  And what about the future cost of payments to be made in “New Drachma” or “New Lira”?  No, of course not!  But I do know sports businesses should be planning ahead with a view to minimising their exposure – particularly at such a potentially historical point in the future of some key exchange rates and, indeed, whole currencies!

Rajesh Agrawal is the Founder Chairman and CEO of RationalFX, a company he founded in 2005 that specialises in foreign exchange strategy. Agrawal is a fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and an official Think Tank Member of the World Entrepreneurship Forum. Under Argawal, RationalFX became the first UK-based company to launch an online currency exchange system for private individuals on real-time prices. In August 2011 RationalFX signed a shirt sponsorship deal with Birmingham City FC for the 2011-12 season.

RationalFX is the official FX partner of iSportconnect.com

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