At last year's America's Cup, the McCaw scenario is exactly what happened, Virtual Eye-Animation research boss Ian Taylor told the Herald. "On your phone you could listen to all the discussion on board the New Zealand boat and, tell you what, it was fascinating to listen to on the day they nearly flipped it."
On-boat cameras and microphones were available via an app.
The same could be applied to many sports, including rugby, Taylor said. "The technology to create the content is here." The issues that needed to be sorted were broadband capability and content rights.
As television and online sports experience got better, Taylor said stadiums had to work on the social aspect of being at the game and on how to allow the crowd to share that on social media.
"The stadia have got to create an experience that people want to take part in and increasingly if they want young people there they are going to have to allow them to connect to the game and to be able to share it with the world.
"The big issue for stadia is how on earth do they get bandwidth to get the stuff out. Fix that roadblock and the rest will flow."
New Zealand's high pay TV penetration (50 per cent pay compared with 20 per cent in Australia) and less tribal support of teams than across the Tasman are challenges faced by stadiums. Though broadcasters recognise good match attendances make the broadcast better, matches are scheduled to suit television rather than watching live because the value of the media rights long ago surpassed the value of gate receipts.
As a result the biggest Super Rugby crowd at Wellington's Westpac Stadium last year were the 15,111 who attended a rare afternoon match, even though the Hurricanes faced low-drawcard South African team, the Southern Kings.
Though millions is being spent globally on stadium technology, Westpac Stadium chief executive Simon Harmon said it was not the whole answer. "If a fraction of that money was allocated to the game-day production and sports presentation, I think you would see a better return."
The challenge for stadiums was to find a way of creating a unique homeground atmosphere for their teams, even though the team might change from week to week. Many US stadiums were single-sport facilities and many were owned by teams, enabling them to better create home ground atmosphere, but teams in this part of the world can't afford that.
Metlife Stadium in New York, which is jointly owned by American football teams the Giants and the Jets, uses expensive technology and digital signage that enables it to easily transform the stadium into the home brand of either team.
"They are opportunities we need to take a look at," said Harmon.
Stadiums overseas are exploring ways to improve interaction between players and fans. Sports bars overlooking the field worked for ice hockey by combining the sports bar vibe with the live game.
The Dallas Cowboys' Stadium has the world's biggest HD screen and has players enter the field through a bar in the venue, while the CONSOL Energy Centre in Pennsylvania has on-demand instant replays in luxury suites and makes it available to cellphones elsewhere in the arena.
ANZ Stadium in Sydney, the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Adelaide Oval are among those implementing free Wi-Fi. Eighty per cent of Eden Park can get Wi-Fi and sales and marketing head Adrienne Bonell said its management was costing extending it to the whole venue.
Harmon says Westpac Stadium is speaking to potential telco partners but it is unclear how Wi-Fi can pay for itself. "A connected venue is a multi-million dollar investment."
Currently networks commonly break down under the demand of large crowds such as those at an All Blacks test or an All Whites World Cup qualifier. But Harmon said free Wi-Fi alone would not boost attendance as week-to-week crowds didn't break the network and he doubted that first-mover advantage applies here, noting that because of the pace of growth in bandwidth and data requirements some US stadiums had had to redo their installations.
The attraction would be if teams and stadiums could produce content exclusive to those at the stadium, such as the ability to go on your phone and replay a try or a referee decision.
That could require teams or the sport to retain the relevant rights for in-stadium broadcast, he said.
"I think in-stadium Wi-Fi is going to go from a nice-to-have to almost a must-have, like electricity."
But big costs, uncertain pay-off and a small economy likely meant New Zealand's stadiums would follow rather than lead the trend. "It is part of the future but you have to cut your cloth to [match your means]."
Westpac Stadium is opening a new lounge for 700 people with free Wi-Fi and cellphone stations and views over Wellington Harbour "We are starting to apply technology to the venue as a flavour of what is to come."
Stadiums on limited budgets could do only so much. Teams needed to create greater tribalism, said Harmon. New Zealand professional teams are relatively new and lack the history and tradition which in Australia helped see AFL team Essendon through a major drug scandal without hurting match attendance.
Harmon suggests emphasising membership rather than season tickets, catering to the emotional connection rather than the cold financial decision of a season ticket. "It's like a donation, you buy into the club."
