KINGSHOLM STADIUM Gloucester, England
Images: Martin Bennett / Gloucester Rugby, AS PR
H
ome of rugby union team, Gloucester Rugby,
stadiums because the connectivity and Wi-Fi are poor.
the Kingsholm Stadium in Gloucester,
Landways expertise in infrastructure means the fibre
England has a capacity of almost 17,000
network allows multiple audio and video streams to be
people, with its main grandstand seating
delivered live. It can also be connected to the screens
7,500 of that capacity. Over the years, it has played host to
and access points, or connected to food, drink and
a number of international rugby union matches including
merchandise. As part of the fan experience platform,
the 1900 Home Nations Championships, the 2011 Churchill
the club will be able to offer forward thinking brands
Cup and the 2015 Rugby World Cup, to name just a few.
many more opportunities, other than just traditional
It was originally built way back in the 19th Century, but
sponsorship.
structurally, it was most recently upgraded in 2007, which
Ben Silcox, Chief Strategy Officer of Clock, said: “The
resulted in the new main grandstand.
future is looking bright for our partnership with Landways.
Technologically, it was the digital services within the
There are too many clubs and venues not delivering
stadium that received a recent overhaul, which came about
experiences that people have come to expect in other parts
through a partnership between digital infrastructure
of their lives; the sum of the technology is not adding up
specialists Landways, digital agency Clock, and Gloucester
to something better. With our unique partnership of a
Rugby.
connected infrastructure and an end to end connected fan
Landways has designed, financed and built an industry-
experience, we are well positioned to help rights holders
leading high-density digital infrastructure and Wi-Fi
and venues gain commercial growth and a younger fan and
network at Kingsholm Stadium. The infrastructure is
customer base. Our rugby clients are moving first but we
completely future-proofed and will cope with several
are experiencing interest across a range of sports and live
generations of data growth, network upgrades and new
experience venues.”
digital services.
Testing of the new service has taken place over the last
This state-of-the-art capacity will underpin a new
season during home games, and now that the stadium is
generation of digital services to be provided to Gloucester
able to offer high capacity Wi-Fi capability, fast speeds and
Rugby by Clock. A new fan experience mobile app will
‘always-on’ connectivity, the new stadium-wide digital
use Clock’s Colooder platform to deliver a variety of
infrastructure will be rolled out in full for the new season,
experiences including half-time quizzes, games that allow
alongside the new mobile app.
children to interact, play and understand the game of
Stephen Vaughan, Gloucester Rugby CEO concluded: “We
rugby, a range of audio feeds to enhance what’s going on
are firmly in a digital world and part of the future-proofing
in the game, pre-ordering of food and drinks, rewards and
of the club going forward is to ensure we are at the
offers, debates and discussions, live ‘Man of the Match’
forefront of technology that allows us to give everybody
voting, a fans’ gallery of pictures and exclusive content
that visits Kingsholm stadium not only fast connectivity
around players, the game and fans.
but also gives us the ability to engage our audiences better.
Chris Smedley, Chief Executive of Landways, said: “We
The app will allow visitors to Kingsholm to access high
have deployed a record quantity of optical fibre throughout
speed Wi-Fi and a range of services designed to improve
the stadium, as well as several unique technical designs, to
the experience on a match day. We are delighted to be
manage the huge forecast growth in demand for wireless
partnering with both Landways and Clock to help provide a
data over the next few years. We will be monitoring the
more connected environment for our fans.”
network closely and, as required, working with Gloucester Rugby to install upgrades to ensure that the Wi-Fi system does not run out of capacity and that Kingsholm remains one of the UK’s best-connected sports venues.” The experiences Clock delivers are not possible in most
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Right: The digital services at Kingsholm Stadium is the most recently technology upgrade.
