This new fan feature has been added to every seat at TCU’s football stadium
Fans attending TCU football games at Amon G. Carter Stadium will find a new feature at their seats that gives them access to everything from TCU-inspired Instagram filters to downloadable coupons from sponsors to live stats.
The school didn’t have to look far to implement this new technology, partnering with Fort Worth-based Digital Seat Media. DSM installed 45,000 metal tags with a QR code this week. Fans can scan the QR codes with their smart phones and access a number of features without having to download an app.
The platform runs on mobile web and works on all mobile browsers.
“If a school wants to send a message just to the students, they’re able to do that now,” said Digital Seat Media CEO Cameron Fowler, who graduated from Fort Worth’s Southwest Christian.
“We just felt that there’s got to be a way to communicate with an individual fan or the students instead of only on the jumbotron. The seats were the last remaining area that really hadn’t been addressed in live entertainment. There’s never been anything on them because it didn’t make sense to slap a sticker on it whenever that sponsor may be gone a couple of months later.”
Fowler said the experience using the browser may vary fan to fan depending on whether sponsors or teams want to target a certain section such as students or suite holders. However, there are staples such as digital game day programs, live stats or Instagram filters.
“We have 28 modules in our library. Every one of those modules does a different thing,” Fowler said. “A digital game day program is one of them. We offer incident reporting if someone is having a medical issue or being obnoxious in your section.”
The beauty of this feature is its flexibility in changing game to game. If a sponsor wants to offer a coupon, they could adjust from having it activate if TCU scores 28 points one week to whether they force a takeaway the next.
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all,” Fowler said.
TCU joins a number of other schools in implementing this technology. Others include UCLA, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Washington, Baylor, Virginia Tech and more.
For TCU, this partnership is part of its continued effort in enhancing the game day experience for fans. Athletic director Jeremiah Donati is announcing additional game day enhancements on his social media throughout the week.
“Every year we strive to gather feedback and make enhancements to the game day experience,” Donati said. “Even coming out of a year with a lot of restrictions and limited capacity, it was no different this offseason. We continue to move the ball forward.”
Full go
TCU is planning for a return to the full game day experience this season. Tailgating is back. There will not be any social distance restrictions or vaccine requirements to attend games. Masks will not be required for fans sitting outdoors, but the school does have a mask mandate for indoors.
“From a COVID perspective, we’re resuming normal game day procedures,” Donati said. “Obviously we’re still monitoring the situation and we will make any changes that we need to make when we need to make them. But, at this point, we’re returning to a full game day experience.”
TCU opens the season with four consecutive home games, starting with Duquesne on Saturday night. The Frogs have high expectations entering this season after winning five of their final six to close out the 2020 season.
“To anticipate full fan support is really exciting for our student-athletes as well as our fans,” Donati said. “We’ve all missed sports. Last year we did what we could with the cards we were dealt but it was challenging. It was challenging for everybody. I’m excited to wake up Saturday morning and get ready for a real football Saturday here at TCU.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
