Hours before every tipoff at Fiserv Forum, the Milwaukee Bucks' technology team can be found going through a 92-point checklist, testing every possible system in the arena that needs to be ready before game time.
The Green Bay Packers have a similar pre-game process to test everything from the stadium Wi-Fi to the mobile ticketing system.
"Everything is reliant upon very good tech connectivity," Green Bay Packers director of information technology Kenny Ansel said Wednesday during a panel discussion about technology in sports at the Summerfest Tech conference in Milwaukee.
Ansel joined Milwaukee Bucks chief technology and strategy officer Robert Cordova and Milwaukee Brewers vice president of information technology Derek Hyde on the panel. Generac Power Systems chief information officer Tim Dickson moderated the discussion.
Whether it's obvious — like a new scoreboard — or more behind-the-scenes, technology powers nearly every aspect of the fan and athlete experience for each professional team. That means dozens of technology employees are needed to keep systems running smoothly.
For the Milwaukee Bucks, the sound of a referee's whistle automatically stops the clock — no button needed, Cordova said. When there's a challenge on a call, a high-speed fiber network connects Milwaukee referees to a team in New Jersey.
"(When) you see that little replay screen pop up and the referees are talking about the play ... they're just acting," Cordova said. "There's about two dozen refs in Secaucus, New Jersey, that will make the ultimate call and they'll tell the local refs what the call is."
The Milwaukee Brewers are looking to adopt new parking technologies at American Family Field that would utilize cameras, artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify and pre-register license plates, allowing fans to "drive through, get out of (their) car and go," Hyde said.
Working with Major League Baseball, the Brewers are also piloting technologies for the stadium entrance that would scan fans' faces in a frictionless ticketing and pre-screening process, Hyde said. That could be deployed at a small scale within a year or two, he said.
The Brewers are currently looking to upgrade the stadium, with a new scoreboard, replacement of bowl seating and maintenance of the retractable roof among the priorities.
The Packers, which will host the 2025 NFL Draft at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, are also planning a new scoreboard that would be twice the size of the current one, Ansel said. The team is also seeking new vendors for its point-of-sale system and stadium wireless, he said.
