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College Football Playoff Championship breaks data usage record

By Charles Rahrig V

Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports /
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Those in attendance at AT&T stadium used up a lot of data to say the least

In today’s age of technology, especially with our ability to possess powerful devices via our phones, data usage is at an all-time high. During the College Football Playoff National Championship Monday, fans watching the Oregon Ducks and Ohio State Buckeyes, set new highs for data used.

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The 85,000+ fans in attendance used well over 6 terabytes of data.

"John Winborn, chief information officer for the Dallas Cowboys, said the AT&T-hosted Wi-Fi network at AT&T Stadium carried 4.93 TB of traffic during Monday’s game between Ohio State and Oregon, a far higher total than we’ve ever heard of before for a single-game, single-venue event. AT&T cellular customers, Winborn said, used an additional 1.41 TB of wireless data on the stadium DAS network, resulting in a measured total of 6.34 TB of traffic. The real total is likely another terabyte or two higher, since these figures don’t include any traffic from other carriers (Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile) carried on the AT&T-neutral host DAS."

The game between the Buckeyes and Ducks was about fours and draw out with all the commercials, so it’s not surprising those in attendance took to data and WIFI usage.

The game blew away records set by any Super Bowl or any NFL game that had previously taken place. Impressively enough, was the procedures that AT&T Stadium put in place to prepare for the magnitude of such a game.

Since Thanksgiving, AT&T Stadium added another additional 300 WIFI access points and several more DAS antennas. The stadium was well equipped to handle an event of such proportion.

It will be interesting to see how the upcoming Super Bowl in Glendale, AZ fares. The Super Bowl is the biggest event of the year and the data usage within the stadium will no doubt be through the roof. The University of Phoenix Stadium has put in work preparing for the potential data usage as well.

"For Super Bowl XLIX, scheduled to take place in Glendale on Feb. 1, 2015, Feller and his team have not just tuned up their network — they have done a full rip and replace of the Wi-Fi system, installing new Cisco gear from back end to front, in order to support a wireless game-day demand that is historically second to none. Integrator CDW has led the Wi-Fi effort and Daktronics and ProSound did the installation of new video screens, and neutral host Crown Castle has overseen a revamp of the DAS system, again with more antennas added to bolster coverage. In all, there has been more than $8 million in wireless improvements before this year, Feller said, as well as another $10 million for two new video boards that are each three times larger than what was there before."

The University of Phoenix Stadium has held national championship games and Super Bowls before, so they know the work and procedures that will have to take place for such an event. However, with a smaller stadium capacity than the behemoth in Dallas, TX, the numbers may not eclipse that of the National Championship.

People are using their mobile phones more than ever and data usage is growing at incredulous rates. The numbers are only sure to grow even more and stadiums along with other sporting venues across the world will have to do their best to keep up.

This is the age of technology, and there is no slowing it down.

[H/T: Mobilesportsreport]

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