Formerly known as Staples Center, the arena at the center of the L.A. Live district may be the busiest pro sports venue. The venue is currently home to the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. Along with regular concerts and high-profile events like the recent Grammys, the stadium doors basically never close, reported Stadium Tech Report.
The renamed Crypto.com Arena already had wireless connectivity with an indoor distributed antenna system (DAS) that reaches most of the 20,000-capacity seating bowl. Though updated regularly, the wireless network reached a point where a complete overhaul was necessary.
Lee Zeidman, president of Crypto.com Arena, Microsoft Theater, and L.A. Live, said the aging of the existing DAS prompted discussions on a new network architecture and who would furnish it. In the end, executives with stadium owner AEG Worldwide selected Newport Beach, CA-based wireless connectivity specialist Mobilitie because of its previous DAS work at another AEG facility.
Starting during the pandemic, construction had to work around live events being held on an almost nightly basis. “The biggest challenge is, each summer we do not know when we can start [any renovations] due to playoffs but we must be ready each October 1 due to the start of the NBA/NHL seasons,” said Zeidman.
For the first phase of the network overhaul, Zeidman said the stadium had a window of 131 days for completion, while simultaneously hosting 45 events such as concerts, family shows and the Los Angeles Sparks home games.
According to Mobilitie, the challenge is to keep the existing network running while the replacement gear is being installed. The upgrade will continue for the next few years as the stadium undergoes a “nine-figure” renovation that includes “new LED screens and ribbon boards, upgrades to the concourse levels and improvements to in-arena dining as well as a ‘refresh’ of the locker rooms for the Lakers, Kings, and Sparks,” according to the arena.
Mobilitie says the stadium and its surrounding entertainment district now has a network capable of supporting 5G NR (new radio) technologies operating on a range of frequencies from traditional low- and mid-band cellular spectrum to newer C-band and millimeter wave bands. All three major U.S. MNOs provide their signals to the DAS along with their own mmW antenna deployments.
In the end, Crypto.com Arena will have a cellular network inside the building that is more than double the density of its previous one, going from 9 sectors to 24. An 8-sector outdoor DAS will cover events outside the facility as well as foot traffic in the revamped L.A. Live space where one street will be converted to a pedestrian plaza.
Complimenting the partnership with Mobilitie, Zeidman said the new DAS, once fully completed, “will give us one of the fastest, most technologically advanced multi-carrier wireless networks in the country, which will improve our venue operations and enhance our fan experiences.”
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