Tag Archives: Kansasville

Ventura Sports Group, of Kansasville, Wis., owns three minor-league baseball teams and stadiums around the U.S. When the company built a new stadium for the Grand Prairie AirHogs in Texas last year, managing partner Roger W. Christoph tells IncTechnology.com that the decision to use IP phones allowed managers to increase functionality while allowing fans to order food and drink from stadium seats without missing a minute of the game. Elizabeth Wasserman: What type of technological innovations do sports fans expect from new stadiums these days? Roger Christoph: Customers going to minor league games now expect more. It used to be that a minor league ballpark was wooden benches, no suites, hot dogs, softdrinks and beer and popcorn. It was almost like going to the county fairgrounds. Today, they expect almost a micro major league park with suites, nice stadium seats and a variety of food and beverage concessions. When it comes to technology,  they only expect a fancy score board and video board. But I think today’s society expects more technology in everything they do. Whether they’re in their car, in their office, or in a ballpark, people today are looking for and expecting more technology. With that in mind, I want to be able to provide those services. I want to be able to use tech as a business owner. Wasserman: Tell us about the tech components in the Grand Prairie stadium. Christoph: In the newest stadium that we built, we wanted to use the latest and greatest technologies to make our business more competitive and provide a better fan experience. It is unique in that there are several entertainment zones in the stadium that have nothing to do with baseball. It has a 17,000 square foot kids zone, for kids aged 2 to 14 with basketball hoops, soccer goals, climbing walls, jungle gyms, etc. It’s a place where kids want to hang out when they come to the game with mom and dad.. Out in right field, there’s a swimming pool and deck where you can watch the game. We also have IP phones from Cisco throughout, backed by software from IPcelerate – in suites and all over the stadium. We went for IP phones versus traditional phones because, why build two networks throughout the stadium for voice and data when you can build just one data network? The advantage of the IP phone system is that it’s one network, one maintenance bill. Because it’s connected to the network, we can push software to the phone. It was explained to me that some of the software I could put on the phone is similar to what is in my pocket on my cell phone or BlackBerry. I wanted to have the capability of doing something like that, taking a leap forward technologically. Wasserman: How are you using the IP phones? Christoph: What we did with the IP phones in the suites is we put four applications with icons on the display screen of the phones. One of them is a picture of a waitress. You touch that phone where the icon is and a waitress is notified and comes to your suite. The fan in the suite now doesn’t have to have someone knocking on the door all the time to see if they want to order anything. For me, I was able to reduce the number of waitresses I had serving the suite holders. The waitresses were able to be more effective and more efficient and they like that because the more suites they can work, the bigger the tip. The suite holder also wins because they get better service. The next application on the phone is a little microphone icon so when you’re inside the suite, you can choose not to listen to the game or choose to listen to the game. By pushing this button, the PA announcer comes over the phone and you can listen to the game. But some people don’t want to listen to the game. They want to have a meeting, or have it be quiet, or listen to the Yankees’ game. There’s also a food and beverage icon that lets you order right over the phone, instead of having a waitress come by. The fourth icon is really neat. It’s the team roster icon. You hit that button and up pops a photograph of one of the players and a voice recording. “My name is John Doe. I’m from Pensacola, Fla. I’m 6’2″ and weigh 210 pounds. My favorite place in the stadium is the sports bar because that is where I can get Guinness on tap.” Wasserman: What kind of results have you seen? Christoph: What we’re doing here is getting the fans acquainted with the players. It’s important in that it creates a sense that they know the team, know the players. The second thing it does is it lets the fan know what’s available in the stadium. Before I put any applications on the phone system, it just carried someone’s voice. But just by making an incremental increase in spending, I’ve reduced my labor costs, increased my revenues by selling more food and beverages, increase my fan experience and increased my fan loyalty. What we’re doing now is considering putting an ad or two on the phone displays — from Budweiser, Coca-cola, or a local Chevrolet dealer. So we’ll actually get paid to have their ads on that phone. Wasserman: Do you also use the IP phones to run your business? Christoph: We also have the same phone system, just a different display, in our offices. But we have different applications. If the general manager wants to call a meeting of sales staff, he hits one icon and notifies all the sales people. He doesn’t have to send an e-mail. If he wants to record a phone call, he can be half way through the phone call, and hit one button and the entire phone call is recorded. We can send out text messages to alert our season ticket holders and our e-mail database that tonight is “Thirsty Thursday,” our dollar beer night. The reason I went with the IP phone is that they’re smart devices. I can put software on them, and these phones — in addition to carrying voice and taking voice mail — generate more revenue, cut my expenses, make a unique fan experience and help with promotion and marketing. The incremental cost to do that is pennies. I made the decision to invest in a smarter network with smarter phones. That combination is generating revenue for me, and giving my fans a great experience.