Five ways powerful 5G networks can elevate the fan experiences in 2026

The global soccer championship features 104 games over 39 days. We have already seen two races of the premier open-wheel motorsport series take place in the Americas, with four more to come this fall. Meanwhile, approximately 350,000 fans gathered in May for the historic 500-mile race in Indianapolis. The expected network impact in each host city is comparable to what American football’s championship game brings every February. 

Connected sports and entertainment shape both the live experience at venues and the media productions we enjoy at home and on our phones. The first 5G-related event was the big game in 2020 in Miami, less than a year after the first 5G networks launched in the US. Since the launch of public 5G capabilities, private 5G capabilities have been added, either as dedicated networks or network slices within a public 5G network. Concert fans have shown us that uplink matters, and many networks had to be swiftly upgraded as the entertainment shifts from sport to music events. 

Still, after six years, few understand how 5G network capabilities are used today and how they are continuously pushed to take venue experiences to the next level. 

In this blog post, we will take you behind the scenes and describe the sports super cycle as the ultimate test in venues and in host cities, unpacked in this new report.

My first career was in the production of global sports events! 

By the time I graduated from college, I had been on the organizing side of global pinnacle events for 15 years. I worked in timekeeping as it transitioned from analog to computerized, including the introduction of graphics in professional broadcasts. Mobile networks came into play later but have made significant inroads in venues this decade. I am fortunate to still experience racing events 10-15 days per year, both as a fan and from the organizing side, and these are the five areas that stand out in the development of connected sports and entertainment venues:

1. How 5G deepens the fan experience at venues

Since the initial deployment of public 5G network capabilities at major venues, the digital augmentation of the fan experience has been in focus. Few, if any, visit a live event without their smartphone today. A reality that has shaped six major opportunities:

• Digital ticketing on the phone with dynamic QR codes, eliminating the fraud risks
• Experience sharing on social media platforms, initially as texts or still pictures, but today with live video to convey the full excitement.
• Flexibility to pick the best seat in the house, for different camera angles than the ones where you are sitting, all streamed in real-time to your smartphone without lag.
• Providing geeks with access to detailed statistics and graphics on a smartphone, like what we are used to on the TV at home, is made available in apps tied to each sport. 

These digital augmentations of the fan experience at venues are today table stakes at professional sport events. But not all 246 US venues with more than 20,000 seats have yet offered great 5G experiences. The required coverage and capacity area is addressed by stationery and temporary 5G network solutions, such as cellular on Wheels (COWs) and cellular on light trucks (COLTs). 

When I visited Indianapolis on race day in 2011, it was hard to TXT and Tweet from the venue. Last year, I could stream an entire race overseas in the morning as we waited at the venue. That is a remarkable leap forward in capabilities. For further details on the research behind this area and the actions stakeholders can consider,check out this link.

2. How 5G eliminates the lines that fans hate the most

The business operations at sports and entertainment venues are multifaceted and complex. The introduction of private 5G networks in the US began in 2023 and has evolved quickly since then. Today, the business operations at the most advanced venues enjoy access to private 5G networks, or to virtual private 5G networks provided as a slice of a public network. Each slice can be tailored to the unique requirements of each use case.  

Business operations have been quick to take advantage of, with emphasis on the business processes where lines tend to build up, and what lines to address:

1. Ticket screening lines - Smartphones are used today to read tickets, with rapid scanning and processing dependent on a low-latency connection to the server hosting all ticket information.
2. Food and beverage purchases offer an opportunity to reduce lines for both ordering and payment flows.  Intermission breaks are short and intensive.
3. Merchandise purchases tend to drive lines due to the sheer volume of fans and the high volume of merchandise sold at venues. 

What I personally find most annoying here is the processing of times between two and thirty seconds for food and beverage purchases during short intermissions. One of the most obvious areas to target with differentiated connectivity is separating payment transactions from the generic internet traffic. You can find further details on all five here.

3. How 5G is reshaping what you see on the screen

US media distribution rights surged by fifty percent between 2020 and 2024, and sports rights have become a survival strategy for streaming channels. Cost increases have led to raised prices for your favorite sports streaming services. The most remarkable media rights shift is for my favorite sport, surging from $5 Million per year (2018-2022) to $140 million per year (from 2026) in the US alone. 

Such a steep increase in media rights costs drives expectations for more exciting media productions. The rapid development of camera technology and new ways of connecting cameras for professional media productions over 5G are shaping productions from pinnacle events. In the past, wire transmission and offline mobile solutions were the only options, but not any longer. 

Sony has invented the Personal Data Transmitter, a 6” camera screen with integrated 5G capabilities, to transform live video productions. Ericsson and Sony have collaborated on optimizing the connectivity solution with differentiated connectivity and Open Network APIs.  An important collaboration to secure 5G networks can offer a sustained 25 Mbps (HD TV quality) or 60 Mbps (4K/UHD) required for live and near-live media productions.

The options for adding new camera angles with 5G-connected cameras have surged quickly. 

1. Roaming broadcast cameras can now be incorporated in live productions without being wired to the broadcast production center.
2. Drones are used for a variety of purposes, ranging from aerial landscape shots over venues to first-person view (FPV) drones following athletes in real time, and many fell in love with this novelty at the winter games in Italy.
3. “Fantographers” are fans and athletes who use modern smartphones to capture moments that can be incorporated in live TV productions. Recently a whole baseball game was captured with fifteen smartphones as the only camera in use.

Advancements in media production are not limited to live video. Still photographers have embraced the opportunity to transform their workflows from capture, edit, and transmit for publication at a later stage. Today, sports photographers at pinnacle events capture the moments and transfer them to the cloud as the action happens, while a colleague handles all editing and post-production in the cloud for publication seconds later

Enjoy a deeper dive into media production insights, evidence and possible actions here.

4. How 5G keeps fans safe at the largest events on earth

Pinnacle sports events require rigorous attention to safety and security. The US Department of Homeland Security has defined five tiers in the Special Event Assessment Rating framework to guide major events. This framework supports organizers in assessing the level of security and first-responder support required to minimize risks and enable successful execution. 

Private 5G networks or virtual private 5G networks play an essential role in providing prioritized connectivity to three categories of staff: 

1. Security staff are responsible for preventing fans from bringing illegal items into the venue and ensuring that the right fans are in the right place.
2. Uniformed police work closely with security staff to manage situations that pose an enhanced risk and to enforce law and order.
3. Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) provide life-saving on-site support. 

As in daily life, first responders depend on priority access to network resources in case of emergencies and for seamless communication across agencies. A task that can be significant during both normal operations and in case of emergencies at events with the highest security classifications. Make security and health a priority at your next event.

5. How 5G connect global fans for a full destination experience

So far, we have covered the main values that 5G networks can offer at sports and entertainment venues. But the pinnacle events, like the ones that 20 US, Canadian, and Mexican cities will experience in 2026, are a totally different ball/wheel game. Six and a half million soccer fans will be present in the venues alone. The average fan will spend 10 to 16 days on the soccer tournament. Each soccer game is projected to generate 10 times as much traffic as a regular-season football game, and these are the details of what make global pinnacle events unique.

Enjoy the full read of our thought leadership report on Connected Sports and Entertainment 2026 with insights and evidence. A report created to support all stakeholders in the broader ecosystem, such as mobile network operators, venue owners, venue businesses, leagues, teams, athletes, and media rights holders, to learn from the Super Sports season in 2026. 

Read more

• Read the full Connected Sports report
• Explore more about Fan experiences with differentiated connectivity