MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., hosts the Super Bowl, Feb. 2.
There was much talk about the risk of holding Super Bowl XLVIII in an open air stadium in a potentially cold, Northeast climate.
So it was pure luck for MetLife Stadium that the event landed on New Jersey’s one decent day in the winter of 2013-14.
The 50-degree temperatures not only made the weather conditions favorable for the 82,529 attendees of the game, but also minimized the headaches for the East Rutherford venue.
“Everyone was fixated on the weather for the Super Bowl,” said Brad Mayne, president and CEO of the stadium. “It was definitely a factor in the days before the game, where our operations folks spent a lot of time dealing with snow removal and frozen pipes. The head of the NFL tweeted that the opening day for the New York Mets on March 31 was colder than the day of the Super Bowl kickoff.”
In a normal winter season, the area sees 17 inches of snowfall. By game day on Feb. 2, New Jersey exceeded 45 inches of snow. This didn’t include the 5 inches of snow the day after the game or the three major snow storms that followed.
Despite the threat of bad weather, Super Bowl XLVIII set new records on per caps and ticket sales for the stadium, despite the NFL raising ticket prices. The event also was the most watched program in U.S. history, with 111.5 million viewers and more than 115 million during half time.
“One of the benefits in being in the largest U.S. market is that we can set records on these big ticket events,” Mayne said.
The break in the weather and record Super Bowl viewership were par for the course for MetLife Stadium, which has been surrounded by good fortune since it opened four months ahead of schedule and on budget in the spring of 2010.
As the first building owned and operated by two NFL franchises—the New York Jets and New York Giants—it made sense that the venue would host the league’s championship game, even under the threat of bad weather.
In preparation for the Super Bowl, Steve Baetz came on board in January of last year as MetLife Stadium’s senior director of information technology. The main focus was enhancements to the building’s Wi-Fi and cellular technology.
“This was a major achievement of ours last year,” Baetz said. “From the time I came on board, much of what we were doing was leading up to the Super Bowl.”
Significant Wi-Fi system upgrades were accomplished with MetLife Stadium’s partner Verizon Wireless. The 622 access points were increased to 850 and up-to-date controllers were added that have significantly improved performance.
“We upgraded the bandwidth to six times what it was previously,” Baetz said. “During the Super Bowl, we handled more than double the bandwidth than the previous year’s game, at 980 megabits per second, compared with 412 megabits per second in 2013.”
In terms of data use, circuit viewing almost topped out due to Instagram posts and iCloud traffic. The in-stadium data volume totaled more than 800 percent more than the previous year.
“We far exceeded our expectations and performance, setting the benchmark for the next Super Bowl,” Baetz said. “The modifications were made prior to us hosting WrestleMania 29, which was the big test and came off without a hitch.”
Along with technology upgrades, MetLife’s cornerstone sponsors, including Verizon Wireless, Pepsi, SAP with EMC and Budweiser, created permanent fan activation areas within the stadium prior to the big game.
This included video boards, games and interactive experiences for fans.
“The NFL took the security perimeter from 100 feet out to 300 feet, which gave us more room for these areas,” Mayne said.
WrestleMania 29, held 10 months prior to the Super Bowl, put the venue to the test in terms of handling increased attendance and sophisticated logistics.
The WWE built replicas of the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. The event brought in 80,676 attendees from more than 30 countries, including the entire U.S. and all of Canada, and grossed a record $12.3 million in revenues.
“Three days prior to WrestleMania, we hosted events for the Superstars for Sandy Relief, which benefitted the Hurricane Sandy victims,” Mayne said. “These efforts raised $525,000 for those impacted in New Jersey and New York.”
The success of both the Super Bowl and WrestleMania 29 reflected a year of sellouts and successes for the stadium.
Highlights from 2013 included sold out performances by Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift and Bon Jovi.
The stadium also hosted the 20th anniversary of radio station Hot 97’s Summer Jam as well as one an International Champions Cup soccer semi-final game and matches between four international soccer teams.
One major recent development was MetLife Stadium’s multi-year deal with Syracuse University’s football team. The venue will host 14 of the school’s games through 2038. Last year’s matchup was with Penn State, while this year Syracuse will play Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish on Sept. 27.
Going into its fifth year, the stadium has been aggressive with its operational maintenance schedule.
“We are spending money on operations now so we don’t have to spend capital dollars later to replace equipment,” Mayne said.
The momentum and positive mojo are expected to continue for the remainder of 2014, with sold out One Direction and Rihanna concerts as well as the return of the Electric Daisy Carnival and Monster Jam. The stadium also hosts more than 300 events per year in its meeting rooms and parking lots.
“This is a very competitive market, and we are aggressive in going after events that should be held in stadiums,” Mayne said. “We’re willing to put together any agreement it takes, whether purchasing a show outright, promoting it ourselves, co-promoting or renting out the building, to make it happen.”
Interviewed for this story: Steve Baetz, (201) 559-1500; Brad Mayne, (201) 559-1500