As the World Series ends and the parties begin for the Kansas City Royals, last year’s winners, the San Francisco Giants, are focusing on the 2016 season and using Big Data to improve the team and the fan experience.

Bill Schlough, chief information officer for the San Francisco Giants, joined John Furrier and Jeff Frick, cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during SportsDataSV 2015 at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA, to discuss the team’s offseason technology ramp up.

Investing in infrastructure

“Our field is pretty old. It’s 16, 17 years old, but we don’t want it to feel old,” Schlough said. “So each year we want to invest in that fan experience and make AT&T Park feel like a brand new ball park.”

He continued by saying that AT&T Park is a great location, and the organization is investing in delivering a great fan experience, growing the community around them and making it feel fresh every year.

Schlough explained that in 2004, the park became a Wi-Fi hotspot, and now in 2015, 14,000 fans per game are using much more bandwidth.

“The Park experiences up to 100 terabytes of fan connectivity,” according to Schlough. In order to meet the growing demand, the Giants’ organization continues to invest in the Wi-Fi network to enable fans to stay connected and share experience. Other initiatives include upgrading the video boards with the highest quality video and upgrading its storage structure to handle all the data the team has accumulated.

Using data for sport

An organization such as the San Francisco Giants use data for many business purposes, but Schlough said that there are two significant reasons for collecting data. The first, to know who is coming to the ballpark and how to engage them. The second is predicting player performance.

“We leverage stats and Big Data to make big decisions,” he said.

Schlough pointed to the Giants’ 408 straight game sellouts as an example of the impressive fan experience the organization provides. He feels the Park competes with the couch for delivering a compelling viewing experience.

He added that fans want to see the game using the latest and greatest technology. It is also essential to have plenty of TVs and connectivity at the game as people wander around, so there is no separation between the fan and the game.

Photo by SiliconANGLE