Sports Technology

Telstra has unveiled its Populous-designed 'Connected Lounge' at Sydney's ANZ Stadium - an imaginative and immersive game day experience for fans attending a live sporting event.

Using what was previously a standard hospitality suite at ANZ Stadium, the space has been converted into an interactive technology centre delivering content simultaneously using several platforms.

Commenting on the Lounge’s unveiled for the 2014 NRL Grand Finals, Populous’ Head of Activate David Fleming said Telstra wanted the suite “totally reimagined”.

Fleming explained “Telstra’s brief was to turn the space into an environment that capitalized on Telstra’s recently installed wi-fi at ANZ Stadium, their vision for the NRL and create a truly unique & immersive experience for today’s fan.

Telstra Group Media Manager Matt McCann added “the redesigned lounge is not intended as an exclusive corporate event, rather it’s meant to be the epicentre of fan engagement, creating brilliant experiences for our fans and customers.

“We wanted to use technology to brings fans closer to the action, keeping them ‘connected’ in an environment and atmosphere that was exciting.

“We wanted to create something different and now we want to roll this out in every Stadium in the country. The idea is to cement our position in sport and make the fan experience at the live event even better than it is already.”

Features of the Connected Lounge include:

• A ‘technology gateway’- to transport fans into an immersive, technology rich environment. 
• 2.5 metre x 6 metrem video wall comprising 18 x HD Monitors with the potential for up to seven sources of different feeds 
• A designated area for NRL’s ‘Mission Control’ team to dissect, create, monitor and then visualise all the real-time social data from the game and the latest stats. 
• A purpose built area for Triple M’s ‘Grill Team’ to conduct a live call from the suite 
• 3D surround sound to provide acoustic environment 
• LED coloured lighting which changes colour according to the teams playing 
• Telstra’s ‘Life in Colours’ theme and branding appears in all the furniture selection and suite objects 
• Sports, figures, celebrities and fans seamlessly interacting in the environment 

All of this content - Triple M’s match call, Mission Control’s digital content and various celebrity interviews – is then made accessible via the ANZ Stadium App over the Stadium’s Wi-Fi.

Images: Courtesy of ANZ Stadium (top) and Populous.

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