” Dad, why are we from Atleti?” . Since they were children, the fans of the rojiblanco club tend to go with a changed pace and see football with different eyes. That is why the campaign of the advertising agency Mrs. Rushmore was so successful in which the father did not know how to answer the great question with which we opened this article. Perhaps the answer is found in the centennial hymn that Joaquín Sabina composed: “Don’t ask me why, the red and white colors go with my way of being.” Because Atleti is more than a club, it is a way to win, a way to lose. A way to be.
Samuel was a few days old when he saw his first Atleti game on TV. The mattress genes, which rule. His father, Rafa, does not remember the moment when he joined Atleti: “Being from Atleti is not chosen. I think I’m from Atleti always ”. And is that his father and grandfather were red and white. And her son, who is now 10 years old, shares a passion. Because as they said in the movie “The secret of their eyes” when talking about football, you can change city, country, job or partner, but you cannot change your passion.
A great stadium for a great crowd
This passion is what the centennial hymn reflects: “What a way to endure, what a way to grow, what a way to feel. what way to dream, what way to learn, what way to suffer, what way to clap, what way to win, what way to die … “
“Atlético’s fans are unique, they are the soul of the club, and they deserved a stadium like this,” says René Abril, Director of Technologies and Systems at Club Atlético de Madrid. The rojiblanca fans are at the root of the design of a new stadium at the forefront, which began to be worked on in 2016, not only from an architectural point of view, but also in the use of technology as a differential element of the fan experience.
Rafa closely followed the construction of the new red and white house. Every day, on the way to work, I passed the construction sites and observed the progress of the work. The Wanda Metropolitano was inaugurated on September 16, 2017 and its premiere was an event in the world of football. On the day of its inauguration, Rafa could not miss the appointment. There he was with his son Samuel: “When I first entered the stadium I was very proud. My expectations had been met. The first thing that caught my attention is that it was a modern, spacious, comfortable and very safe field. And, above all, I was surprised by the technological deployment that there was “.
“Smart stadium”
The new home of the mattress team is one of the most innovative stadiums in Europe and the first smart stadium in the Old Continent. “ We wanted to design a stadium in which the technology, and especially the connectivity , was very powerful. And for this design we were clear that we had to go hand in hand with Telefónica , since it is a global leader in both telecommunications and business projects for the whole world. For us that was key. We chose Telefónica because as a company it has a lot of divisions that are specialists in each area that we needed ”, says René Abril.
The technological project consists mainly of a powerful multi-service network, in which each of the services that the club needed have been housed. Within this network are both security solutions, which include closed circuit television, access control and anti-intrusion systems, as well as audiovisual and broadcasting solutions.
But the most important thing is that all this great “technological skeleton” allows the stadium to be prepared to house the innovations that will be produced in the coming years, innovations that we cannot even imagine now.
A hyperconnected stadium
The Club has provided the stadium with an extraordinarily powerful network infrastructure. Enrique Canellada, director of the Project Office at Telefónica de España and the visible head of this great technological challenge, explains: “The connectivity solutions that are deployed are based on two 10-gigabyte macrolan connections with the outside world; Inside, the integral connectivity of all elements of the stadium and of all users is enhanced. For this reason there are more than 7,000 network points and more than 1,500 APs that allow Wi-Fi coverage in 100% of the facilities. All the services that can be provided have close access to the multi-service network, which is the one that controls the entire stadium. The venue also has a super powerful and very innovative 4G coverage network at the level of the League’s stadiums and 5G will soon be a reality ”.
René Abril adds: “We have a Wi-Fi network design to be able to reach all the spectators in the stadium simultaneously. It is a very high-density network, we have one Wi-Fi access point for every 40 viewers. These access points are under the seats of the spectators to have capillarity “, and adds that” Telefónica’s engineers had a lot to do with this design. In principle we wanted to place the antennas on the roof, but at one point in the project we took a turn because according to their specifications, according to their studies, it was best to put it under the seats ”.
“All this infrastructure allows fans to get to their stadium and enjoy the connection as if they were in their own home. It is not so easy to achieve that in a venue where there are 68,000 viewers everyone can talk on their mobile, have high speed internet simultaneously. Peak moments always coincide, all fans want to share the moment of the goal, the moment of triumph with their friends or with their family, everyone connects at the same time. To guarantee this, the infrastructure deployed exceeds that of some cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants ” , concludes René Abril.
Facilitate informative work
One idea that has always been kept in mind is to provide the best possible working conditions for the media. The mobile units that arrive at the stadium for the broadcasts of the matches need to have fast and convenient access to the television network, and for this the stadium is equipped with 51 fixed television points, with the connection capacity of up to 100 analog cameras and 220 in fiber.
This deployment extraordinarily facilitates the work of the media, since they have a connection point in almost any part of the venue to generate their broadcasts. The needs of the rest of journalists are twofold: to have work spaces and easy access to communications. That is why they have Wi-Fi coverage throughout the stadium and specific areas at their disposal, such as a work center for the press, with monitoring bridges to consult the images that are being broadcast, which allows informants to carry out their work anywhere in the world. stadium with great comfort.
Technology at the service of emotions
Rafa attends all the games with his son Samuel. He tells us that match days arrive at the stadium long before the doors open. They are the first to enter, as Samuel is enthusiastic about the spectacle that precedes the meeting.
“Our purpose is that the atmosphere of the stadium is recognizable. What we do is accompany the game with various content and try to create a great show. Our culminating moment is when we give the team line-up, where both the audio, the music, the video and the stadium lights play in unison to create that atmosphere and for our spectators to live it with passion ”, explains Atlético’s technological director from Madrid.
The audiovisual display in the stadium is frankly spectacular. Apart from the video markers, two large-format LEDs, there is a 40 linear meter 360º ribbon that is managed as a single screen. Outside the stadium there is also a large screen on the 140 square meter façade that welcomes fans before entering the venue.
Another 900 small-format screens, from 10 inches to 90 inches, are controlled by the same system, which manages both the content produced inside the stadium and those received from outside. There are displays in the boxes, in the multipurpose room, in the press work center , in the changing rooms themselves. All these displays are remotely controlled and can be managed individually.
“The deployment we have is very similar to that of a television channel, a production channel,” René Abril tells us. “We control all the production of what is generated within the stadium from the realization hall. We reached more than 900 displays , to indoor screens, to screens that are in the boxes, to screens that are outside, to video scoreboards. We make a production that is based on a rundown, just like on a television program ”, he concludes.
A project with international recognition
The Wanda Metropolitano has become a reference among sports venues worldwide. Not surprisingly, in 2018 he was awarded the Best Sports Venue Award at the Industry Awards during the famous World Football Summit 2018 congress held in Madrid.
This international recognition culminated when the stadium was chosen by UEFA as the venue for the UEFA Champions League final in 2019, just two years after its inauguration. “When we were selected to host the 2019 UEFA Champions League final, it was a source of pride for us, but it was also the fruit of many years of work designing and creating a stadium that was designed from the outset to host finals. So much the infrastructure. technology such as broadcasting , as well as accesses, are designed from the first moment to carry out this type of event “, declares René Abril.
From now on, the infrastructure deployed in the Wanda Metropolitano opens up a range of unthinkable possibilities. The club will allow it to improve the efficiency and management of its resources, but it is the fan who is the true beneficiary of these solutions. Basically it is about the fan extending their experience well beyond the time that the match lasts. Now we have to enrich the experience, especially with interactivity ”, April continues, explaining that“ we are already doing a powerful show, and now we have to take into account that all our fans arrive at the stadium with their mobile terminal. the experience in services that run on the mobile network and that allow our spectators to interact with the show of the Wanda Metropolitano ”.
“We consider this to be the first phase of the stadium’s technological transformation,” Enrique explains. “Right now it is equipped with a whole series of supports that will allow it to evolve in each and every one of the club’s areas of influence. This infrastructure opens up a series of possibilities to generate more and better services, not only for fans but also for other partners with whom they can work ”.
“The replicability of the solutions provided here is total and absolute,” he continues, “not only for sports venues but for any other unique building. Sticking to sports buildings, we believe that today the Wanda Metropolitano’s technological endowment has become a de facto standard for buildings of this type and is what is being used as a basis for the development of future stadiums throughout Europe ”.
Enjoy Atleti with all your senses
“The awards we have received internationally on the stadium logically make us proud,” says René. “But for us the main distinction is that the athletic people feel their home is a new, innovative place where they are comfortable and can live the experience like nowhere else.”
In equipment, refereeing, performance, safety … the possibilities offered by technology to the world of sport are multiple. And for fans, it is a new way of living it, of improving their experience. The Wanda Metropolitano is a good example of this. As Rafa tells us with a smile, “at Wanda I enjoy Atleti not only with my heart, but also with all my senses.”
