The Barclays Center was a pioneer in creating distributed antennas, so that thousands of people could connect to the Internet during games. It also has Roadify displays up so that fans don’t have to check their phones to find out which subway or bus line is coming the soonest.
Chip Foley is the guy at Forest City Ratner behind all the tech innovation, according to Tech Republic. He says that putting the Barclays Center together had a startup quality to it:
Because the Barclays Center is privately owned, Foley said he felt he had more freedom in his creativity in developing the connected arena. Since the technology they were working with was uncharted territory, the project had a startup mentality. There were brainstorming sessions, post-its on the walls, and white boards covered in ideas.
“I get excited about the idea of collaboration,” he said. “In the sports and entertainment world and in the tech world, partnerships with Sony and Cisco put us on the map. I get a seat at the table with the CTO of Blackberry or Samsung. At the same time, we try to figure out how that can benefit fans and Barclays Center, but also the tenants in our building.”
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