Stadiums are no longer just a place to come and enjoy a sporting spectacle. Fans want more from the experience than to just take their seats and sit through 90 minutes, 12 rounds or 50 overs.
They now demand more than the bells and whistles and, as technology evolves and improves for those watching from their living rooms, stadiums are battling to keep pace and get people through the turnstiles.
In a bid to grasp how teams and stadium owners are embracing sweeping technological advances, Sportsmail spoke to three organisations about three vital aspects of modern stadiums to see how the future match-day experience will look.
Tottenham's £1billion lavish new stadium is the latest to be constructed in the Premier League
How stadiums of the future could look thanks to technology shaking up the fan experience
The future of fan experience
Smartphones have the capability to completely alter match-days for fans but the real game changer will be 5G, the next generation of mobile connectivity.
EE was the first UK carrier to launch 5G, switching it on in six cities last month, and by now you have probably seen the adverts with Manchester City and Watford fans watching last month's FA Cup final using virtual reality.
Vodafone will also launch 5G soon while O2 and Three are planning on utilising it sooner rather than later. Once it becomes available to the masses, all manner of possibilities are available to fans.
Picture this: you're at a football match and someone has just smashed the ball into the top corner from 30 yards. Within seconds you can watch replays from multiple angles, flick through player statistics in real-time and even upload a video to Instagram without the abysmal connection a packed stadium usually offers.
This sort of technology is already being embraced across the Atlantic. Sacramento Kings' Golden 1 Center is a sophisticated hub that takes fan experience to the next level.
EE was the first UK carrier to launch 5G but it will become widely available in the near future
Sacramento Kings' Golden 1 Center takes fan experience to the next level using technology
The Sacramento Kings mobile app allows fans to make the most of various technical benefits
Apps on their network enable fans to find the shortest queue on the concourse, pay for parking, and even vote for a change in the temperature of their seating sections.
AT&T are trialling 5G at the home of the Dallas Cowboys while Verizon have a two-year partnership with the NFL to implement the technology on a wider scale. It is slowly coming to Europe too and Barcelona announced in February that the Nou Camp was the first football stadium in Europe to have dedicated 5G coverage.
Using 360 degree cameras around the Nou Camp and Virtual Reality glasses, fans will be able to watch a match from the directors' box, behind a goal, by the dugout or from any viewpoint at any given time.
The club claim that once this technology is fully operative, people will be able to watch and listen to the game as if they were on the pitch.
'We did a survey at the start of the year and 94 per cent of European operators plan to trial 5G within sports and e-sports venues by the end of 2020,' Yogen Patel, head of product and solutions marketing at Amdocs, told Sportsmail.
AT&T are trialling 5G at the home of the Dallas Cowboys and concourses will massively change
Using 360 degree cameras around the Nou Camp, Barcelona will soon implement VR for fans
Virtual reality headsets allow fans to take part in an immersive version of sporting events
'There are really two technical challenges that need to be solved. One is putting up the antennas in locations around the stadium that can deliver the network and the second is ensuring you have the right amount of fibre and backhaul so the data can then be transmitted across the network and deliver the services.'
There will be reservations from traditional sports fans who are more than happy with the current offering but those doubts are cast aside by industry insiders who only see the benefits of the progress being made.
Patel added: 'I am a big ice hockey fan and went to watch the San Jose Sharks recently in the cheap seats. I am a traditionalist sports fan. I go for the experience, enjoyment, the energy but if I could watch the game, have the data concurrently and watch a quick replay of a goal that I couldn't see then it would make my experience much better.
'I don't think there is any concern of backlash from traditional fans because you are still going to have your experiences. Whether it is going for a few drinks with your friends or whatever you'll still have that but for the tech savvy among us this is only going to make it better.'
Getting stadiums connected
While the possibilities with
