Data Niners

In Santa Clara, Calif., 39 miles south of Candlestick Park, stands Levi's Stadium, the new $1.2 billion 68,500-seat home of the 49ers, which opened on Aug. 2. As befits a venue so close to Silicon Valley, the place has a WiFi access point under every 100 seats and 1,500 Bluetooth beacons, giving it the greatest bandwidth of any U.S. stadium, according to the team.

The system interfaces with a stadium app that lets fans order food that can be delivered to their seats—more than 1,000 runners will be on call—and find the nearest restroom or beer tap through a GPS locator. During the game 13 cameras stream replays through the app.

A four-story glass tower on the west side stacks all 176 suites in three levels; media and team personnel fill the fourth. The roof has a garden, seating and 18,000 of Levi's 27,000 square feet of solar panels, which create enough energy over a year to host 10 games. Now that's power football.

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COURTESY OF HNTB (STADIUM)