Tod Caflisch on developing tech infrastructure and fan experience

Thanks to Tod Caflisch from TechFoundry LLC for doing an awesome job in answering all the questions in Sports Geek Nation AMA.

Full Transcript available in the Sports Geek Nation Member's Area.

Here's the highlight question from the Sports Geek Nation AMA with Tod Caflisch.

Tod Caflisch from TechFoundry LLC. Tod was a Sports Geek guest in a number of episodes in our early podcasting years sharing his knowledge in sports and technology. After almost three decades of working and leading innovation in the sports and tech industry, he started his own company TechFoundry, which provides sports and entertainment technology services focused on infrastructure, operations and innovation.

Connect with Tod Caflisch on Twitter @tcaflisch, LinkedIn and Slack @Tod Caflisch

Find out more about TechFoundry LLC at https://techfoundryllc.com

Listen to Sports Geek episodes with Tod Caflisch:

• Tod Caflisch on Red Wings wi-fi rollout at the Joe
• Tod Caflisch from Red Wings, Trendsmap and Welcome Mr Cricket
• New Orleans Saints and Hornets merger discussion with VP of IT, Tod Caflisch

Tod Caflisch:

@johnmccauley you hit my pet peeve button there. I think recycling the same old stuff is the biggest issue – the “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” mentality. Teams/venues need to be innovating all the time due to the changing nature of their team/events, fan sentiment and fan diversity. Specifically regarding infrastructure and fan experience, obviously there are challenges with budget, politics, etc. but those need to be creatively overcome. Basic things like venue wifi which have fallen into the “required amenity” category versus “nice to have” are being overlooked or not given the attention they deserve either due to shortsighted management or simple complacency. Teams/venues need to get to know there fans/patrons better and cater to their needs and (more immediately) the challenges they face to keep them coming back. We've all seen the statistics on how attendance has been steadily dropping at the 4 major leagues in the US. The fan experience needs to be made more frictionless to combat the trend toward staying at home and watching the game on a big high def TV and no $12 beers or lines to get into the bathroom. The Atlanta Falcons enticed fans with cheaper concession prices and many venues have deployed solutions like WaitTimes to help fans avoid lines. Other technologies are being used by the more progressive organizations like digital ticketing, biometric concession/merchandise purchase options, voice assistants in suites, experiential purchasing, trip routing and wayfinding, intelligent parking and more. Much of this is rooted in the mobile experience of fans that goes full circle back to wifi as the enabling infrastructure in-venue. Mobile has adopted ticketing, purchasing, experiential, wayfinding, gamification, stats, fantasy sports, etc. which all address the fan diversity concern. And the one thing it seems many teams/venues don't understand is through the investment in technology also comes the opportunity to collect data on fan behavior. Through analytics the fan journey can very accurately be uncovered giving the teams/venues much deeper insights into their fans/patrons. This in turn makes decisions on future technology investment, marketing and many other aspects of event management easier to decide on and justify investments in.

• What technology excites you for sports?
• What’s with your obsession with Cardio?
• Have you had experiences with dealing with indoor mapping?
• What have you learned in terms of being the first to get a new technology vs. waiting to see if something works for others/has ROI?
• What areas of technology would you tell smaller minor league organisations with limited budgets to focus on?
• How do you start the conversation with CEO on why tech funding is needed?

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