Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes have selected Cisco to provide a new Wi-Fi 6 network at PayPal Park, which is scheduled to be live by the start of the 2024 MLS season, according to the team and Cisco.
In a press release the team and Cisco said that the network will provide Wi-Fi to both fans as well as to back of house operations. Cisco gear will also be used for a new deployment of core network infrastructure, with the new network handling all connectivity needs including the fan-facing Wi-Fi as well as back of house operations, digital signage and point of sale transactions. Master technology integrator AmpThink will be providing the network design and deployment. Cisco and AmpThink have worked together on numerous stadium deployments, including the converged network at SoFi Stadium, one of the first large Wi-Fi 6 networks.
“As a worldwide leader in sports and entertainment as well as our neighbor in San Jose, Cisco is the natural partner to turn to for this project,” said Jed Mettee, chief operating officer for the San Jose Earthquakes, in a prepared statement. “Cisco’s next generation Wi-Fi 6 technology will help us take our in-venue experience to the next level, offering the speed, bandwidth and reliability that we know fans demand.”
The new network continues an interesting history of the Wi-Fi deployment at the stadium, which opened in 2015 known then as Avaya Stadium. Originally, the Earthquakes had selected Ruckus to provide the stadium Wi-Fi, but Ruckus was replaced by Avaya when Avaya signed on as the naming sponsor of the stadium. Our opening-day visit showed a great place for fans but only average Wi-Fi.
And hey! Stadium Tech Report (then called Mobile Sports Report) was on hand to record the first official goal ever scored there!
Quakes goal! pic.twitter.com/Jl2opi0dcS
— paulkaps (@paulkaps) March 22, 2015
The Wi-Fi, however, did improve the next year when the venue hosted the MLS All-Star game. According to Wikipedia the stadium was briefly called Earthquakes Stadium in 2020 after Avaya went bankrupt and had its Wi-Fi business purchased by Extreme. In 2021, the team announced a new 10-year partnership with PayPal for the stadium to be named PayPal Park.
