In Wired.com’s excellent story detailing the technology at Cowboys Stadium, there’s a brief mention of the effect iPads might have on fandom.
And, of course, this being the first Super Bowl since the introduction of the iPad, fans can not only bring along their favorite Apple-made tablet – the NFL assured Wired.com there will be no restrictions on bringing the device into the stadium – but they can also use the NFL’s official Super Bowl app, which features virtual 3-D navigation of Cowboys Stadium, as well as a facilities guide that may prove useful for those not wanting to waste a nanosecond searching out the nearest beer stand.
Ah, we can see it now: Fox cuts to the stands after a Green Bay Packers touchdown, only to find a quarter of the fans engrossed in watching the replay on their handheld tablets. (Or, more likely, catching up on the latest ads they missed.)
It’s either depressing or the perfect combination of your living room and live action.
But there’s more.Pete Walsh, the Dallas Cowboys’ head of technology, is one for forward-thinking. He couldn’t have predicted the arrival of the iPad, but he has everything under control.
“When we started this process back in 2004, we were able to meet with different vendors and see their road maps for where technology was going to be in five or more years so we were able to take advantage of where technology was going to be, rather than where it was,” he told Wired.com.
The result: A 5,000-square-foot data center, 500 HP servers, and full control of the entire stadium’s technological capabilities. It’s like the Death Star, but used for good.