12/18/24
July 23, 2003
Portland stadium rejects free Wi-Fi because "Hmph. We didn't build it.": The utter cluelessness of the official response smacks of typical corporate ham-handed handling. Anyway, forget the PR repercussions. What cool things would you be doing w/ your laptop or PDA (or other cool gadgets) if your ballpark had Wi-Fi? (via boingboing.net)
posted by worldcup2002 to other at 11:21 PM - 7 comments
It would be great if I could order a beer online. Or a pizza, delievered right to my seat.
posted by corpse at 08:12 AM on July 24, 2003
Information I'd provide at a baseball game (assuming I own the team/stadium and have the time/money) via Wi-Fi technology:
- fully updated boxscores for the game (including pitch counts)
- full statistics for every player currently in the game and on the bench (including batter/pitcher matchups, splits)
- out of town scores on demand (including updated boxscores)
- weather forecasts for the surrounding area
- traffic updates for the surrounding area (closed roads for construction, accidents, public transit routes available)
- the ability to purchase future tickets (through encrypted credit card feature)
- the ability to purchase team merchandise and pick it up at a specific location in the park
- an interactive NTN-type game (guess the next play result) that you can compete with other people in the park
- all sound from the devices MUST be disabled (no disturbing other patrons with beeps/dings/rings)
- any phone calls must be made/received AWAY from the seating area (no need for blahblah chatter during game)
- advertisements will be broadcast through the service to those connected (one ad per half-inning, it being just a full screen ad for a product/service being sold on site, lasting 15 seconds)
posted by grum@work at 09:44 AM on July 24, 2003
Dudes: If you had Wi-Fi, you could basically do whatever you want, not just the services provided by the stadium. You basically have full access to the Net from your seat.
posted by worldcup2002 at 10:08 AM on July 24, 2003
What cool things would you be doing w/ your laptop or PDA (or other cool gadgets) if your ballpark had Wi-Fi? Read SpoFi. Duh.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:20 AM on July 24, 2003
Creep Ufez. ;-) I dunno, I guess it's pretty stupid that he didn't talk to the club about it, and also that the club didn't talk to the cable company to see if it stepped on their toes. Still, it's there now and presumably people can use the service if they so choose, whether the club condones it or not. What would I do with my laptop? Well you know, if I'd paid good money for a ticket I'd be tempted to watch the game. I can't imagine taking a laptop into a footie game, not because I'd be worried about losing it but more because I'd suspect people would think me more of a prick than they already do.
posted by squealy at 11:32 AM on July 24, 2003
Oh, that's 'cause you were sitting with the rest of the riff-raff, squealy. I, however, would be up in the director's box, nibbling caviar off some stripper's bellybutton. And sending rude posts to SpoFi from my Wi-Fi-equipped laptop. Of course, my machine would be linked to a 20 inch screen where I could call up scores of all other games, or get live streaming video of goals and highlights. I'd be making thousand-pound bets, too. Then I'd sip some champagne, take a few kisses from the girls, and go buy myself the full season home/away kit for my favorite team. Ho, wait a minute, I could actually blog the game live! I could be just like that Glendenning guy on the Guardian. Whooooo! You see, Wi-Fi makes all things possible.
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:48 AM on July 24, 2003
Well, or perhaps because the guys who did it used the stadium's name in the press release without consent. I gotta say, if I were doing free wireless services, I'd talk to the Red Sox before putting out a press release bragging about my coverage of their park. Common sense. Anyhow, I wouldn't do much. Blog a game, as geeky as that sounds, but only once. I go to stadiums for the game, not to do techie stuff.