The consumption of NFL football, America's most popular sport, is built on game-day traditions.
This week fans will dress head-to-toe in team colors and try out new tailgate recipes in parking lots before filing into 16 NFL stadiums to cheer on their team -- which, thanks the league's parity, will likely still be in the playoff hunt come December.
But a game-day ritual of the digital age -- tracking scores, highlights and social-media chatter on a mobile device -- isn't possible inside many NFL venues because the crush of fans with smartphones can overload cellular networks.
The improved home-viewing experience -- high-def TV, watching multiple games at once, real-time fantasy-football updates and interaction via social media -- has left some NFL stadiums scrambling to catch up. It's one of the reasons why, before rebounding last year, the NFL lost attendance between 2008 and 2011, forcing the league to alter television-blackout rules.
In May 2012, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced an initiative to outfit all 31 NFL stadiums with Wi-Fi. But with the start of the 2013 regular season just days away, less than half of the NFL's venues are Wi-Fi enabled and no stadiums have launched new Wi-Fi systems this year.
Part of the reason for the delay is some stadium operators are waiting for the next generation of increased Wi-Fi speed before installing networks, said Paul Kapustka, editor in chief for Mobile Sports Report.
Another reason, Kapustka said, is that the cost of installing Wi-Fi will come out of the pockets of venue owners and operators who have traditionally not needed to invest in such costly projects. Instead, they receive public money to help build stadiums and television money for the right to broadcast games.
"Stadium owners and operators need to get their hands on the fact that they need to put in Wi-Fi like they need to put in plumbing," Kapustka said.
Brian Lafemina, the NFL's vice president of club business development, said the league is still searching for a telecommunications partner that can help tackle challenges of stadium location, design and tens of thousands of fans all trying to access the network at the same time.
"Yes, we are working on it as hard as we can," he said. "But the technology just isn't where it needs to be to deliver what we want to deliver."
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