A Day Out With Dapphaus at the Blue Jays Ball Game
dapphaus CFO Matt White enjoying the game
Dapphaus Experiences a Blue Jays Ball Game at Rogers Center
It was the middle of July, the Dog Days of summer, and our beloved Blue Jays were in third place in the American League East division. Our heroes were ranked behind the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays, and on Thursday the 20th of July 2023, they played the San Diego Padres in an afternoon match-up here in Toronto at the Rogers Center. And they won. Dapphaus was there in strength to witness their triumph.
Dapphaus staff knows firsthand what happened that day because we were all present at the match. It was the only weekday-afternoon game on the team’s summer schedule, and we took advantage of the opportunity to organize a company-wide outing where we could relax and carouse.
Checking out the tech available as we wait to gain entry
In our photos, some of staff can be seen checking their phones and could be participating in other virtual offerings put forth by MLB. Rogers Centre is slightly less connected than other major league ballparks because they’re not fully onboard with the MLB Ballpark app. While the stadium has recently improved their free Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, they have as yet declined to make all the necessary cameras and other devices available to the digital application so it can serve up its real-time amenities. This means the MLB Ballpark app didn’t carry the Blue Jay players’ stats live in the game as it did the San Diego Padres. We could use our phones to see the ‘pitch cloud’ and other visualizations for the Padre’s pitchers, there were four of them, but nothing was available for the Blue Jays pitchers.
There are other companies with mobile ‘fan-engagement apps’ designed to provide real-time stats, instant replays, and social media engagements for people during games. Still, more startups promise interactive features and exclusive content to engage fans before, during, and after their stadium visit.
All smiles from our team
Remembering the SkyDome
When the SkyDome first opened in 1989, it wasn’t specifically presented to the public as a ballpark, but more as a multi-purpose stadium with a retractable roof. Today, after recent renovations, the modern Rogers Center has a 46,000-seat capacity and is still the venue of choice for mass gatherings like We-day, animal circuses, pro-wrestling events, rock concerts and monster truck shows.
Rogers Centre has a so-called smart lighting system employed to enhance the in-game experience. The lamps can be made to flash apparently although we didn’t see that. They’re all wired together to provide more dynamic experiences and to help amplify the atmosphere during key moments, especially at night. There are special lenses on these diodes arrayed to highlight the bright colours of the uniforms and the baseball. But also, it’s done for legal reasons because should some weather-related event occur, and the sky were to suddenly darken, in the middle of an inning after one team has already been to bat, the game’s officials could not suddenly turn on the lights because doing that would present an uneven playing field.
Where is the Augment Reality at the Rogers Centre?
Major League Baseball is more lethargic than other organizations in terms of adopting technology to enhance fan experiences. They have very limited Augmented Reality (AR) offerings and no Virtual Reality (VR) interfaces yet exist. While their TMobile – Home Run Derby attraction https://www.mlb.com/apps/mlb-ar gives fans the ability to see the big hits in a new format, just like the other tech upgrades, it isn’t available at the Rogers Center. Blue Jays fans can only see the technology in action by watching videos on Sportsnet and SN NOW.
National League Hockey (NHL) by contrast, is the fan experience innovator to watch. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have teamed up to help hockey lead the way among major league sports by funding and incubating a tech start-up called SportsX ( https://www.sportsx.io/ ) which aims to create new-age digital solutions wherein fans can strap-on headsets and find themselves on the playing field, or ice rink.
Dapphaus Watched the Game While Augmenting Their Realty
Dapphaus has been discussing how augmented reality can improve live sports match experiences and our blog has some learnings concerning the mechanics of augmented reality.
A crucial component is the concept of having a "digital twin", a highly detailed 3D digital model of an object that resides in the cloud, acting as a bridge between the physical object and the AR software. This model can be created using advanced computer-aided design techniques or technologies that digitize physical objects. The digital twin constantly collects information from the object, business systems, and external sources to accurately reflect the object's current state. The digital twin empowers the AR software to provide relevant and context-aware AR experiences by seamlessly placing and scaling up-to-date information on the object and without getting too technical we discussed what perspectives would be the best to capture the excitement of the game – the fans’ perspective seems commonplace when users could switch to see what specific players are seeing and doing; they could be the pitcher or the catcher, or coach.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s home run was surprisingly loud and broke up our conversation and brought our eyes back to the field. This is the digital display available to Blue Jays fans in the MLB Ballpark app.
Guerrero injected some much-needed energy into the Blue Jays’ seventh inning with a solo blast to right field that broke open a 4-0 win over the Padres on Thursday July 20 afternoon at Rogers Centre.
We saw similar animations on the Rogers Centre video board which is 33 feet (10 m) high and 110 feet (34 m) across. The panel is made up of modular LED units that can be replaced should something (a homerun ball?) crash into the board.
More engaging is a curved, 124-foot-long (60 x 2,360 pixels) LED ribbon display in left-field homerun territory at the 200 level of the Rogers Center. The ribbon board is part of the stadium’s new Outfield District which allows advertisers to access display screens with minimal hardware. Rogers Centre and other large-scale venues like this utilize such eye-catching displays for advertising, fan engagement, and information dissemination.
Dapphaus would like to thank our friends and suppliers and everyone who made it out to the ballpark.