New Yankee Stadium going high tech
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NEW YORK -- The house that the Steinbrenners are building is on track to be decidedly more high tech than the one across the street that Ruth built.
In fact, the new Yankee Stadium is trying to become the most high-tech stadium anywhere on the planet.
"It amazes me," said New York Yankees Executive Vice President Hal Steinbrenner. "Some of it is technology I didn't even know existed."
The Yankees unveiled their plan Tuesday to bring in technology giant Cisco to not only make the entire stadium one giant wireless Internet hotspot, but also to bring video and interaction to fans rarely seen at a live sporting event.
"They chose to put in the most technologically-advanced infrastructure of any stadium in North America, we believe, and in perhaps the world," said Ron Ricci of Cisco.
There are 1,100 flat panel displays in this stadium, all of them carrying high-definition quality video. While watching the video, the Yankees organization can push different information into the displays, like scores in the league, what's taking place in the league, who's warming up in the bullpen.
The most high-tech features though will, initially, be reserved for those who will be fortunate enough to find themselves in the luxury and party suites.
"They will have the opportunity to manage that experience in the suite from a Cisco IP telephone," said Ricci. "What that'll allow them to do from their suite is order whatever food they want to from the phones. From the same phones, they'll be able to manage the game's action. Fans will also be able to press buttons on the phone and say, 'I want to be able to see that play from center field; I want to see it from the first base coach's perspective.'"
But it will probably get most exciting to most fans a year or two from now. That's when Cisco says many of the features that will be available to fans in luxury suites starting on day one, will be available to all fans, via their mobile phones.
The Yankees will also use Cisco's telepresence system, a high-definition, ultra-realistic video conferencing system, to link players with local students through setups at area libraries.
Both Cisco and the Yankees seem to be stressing most though that the new facility has been, as much as possible, future proofed. So that whatever high-tech features the fans decide they want, the stadium will be able to deliver.