Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium was the most technologically ambitious single-day sporting event ever staged in the United States. Backed by a $200 million venue renovation, the world’s first large-scale Wi-Fi 7 deployment, nearly 1,500 wireless access points, 175+ Sony cameras, and a cybersecurity operation that blocked over 400,000 firewall connection attempts in the week before kick-off, the 8 February 2026 contest between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots transformed a decade-old Silicon Valley venue into a proving ground for event technology’s next generation. The game drew 124.9 million average viewers and a record-breaking 137.8 million peak, whilst fans inside the stadium consumed more than 64 terabytes of mobile data across Verizon and AT&T networks alone. For event technology professionals, Super Bowl LX represents the clearest signal yet of where venue infrastructure is heading — and which vendors are leading the way.
Levi’s Stadium opened in August 2014 as what its builders called “the first stadium built expressly with fan-facing technology in mind.” Twelve years later, nearly every piece of original infrastructure had been stripped out and replaced. The 49ers’ EVP of Technology, Costa Kladianos — a Cisco Networking Academy alumnus who had previously worked at Facebook — led what he described as a “complete rebuild” timed to serve both Super Bowl LX and the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The result was a venue whose technology stack reads like a trade-show floor directory: Cisco, Sony, Verizon, JMA Wireless, ANC Technologies, Zippin, Riedel Communications, Musco Sports Lighting, and dozens more.
A converged core network replaces a decade of silos
The centrepiece of the renovation was a Cisco hyperconverged core network that collapsed previously siloed systems — ticketing, concessions, medical, broadcast, and fan Wi-Fi — into a single IP-based architecture. Systems integrator AmpThink handled the installation, which included a brand-new Cisco data centre inside the stadium housing controls for sound, LED displays, and production workflows.
The physical layer is staggering: 12,000 network ports, 400 miles of fibre-optic cable, and 2,000+ IPTV-connected screens span the 1.85-million-square-foot venue. On top of this backbone sit nearly 1,500 Cisco Wi-Fi 7 access points — the world’s first large-scale 802.11be deployment in a stadium — operating on 6 GHz spectrum and featuring Cisco’s fourth-generation “hyper-directional” antennas purpose-built for high-density environments. The emphasis, according to Cisco Distinguished Engineer Matt Swartz, was on uplink capacity: at a Super Bowl, fans upload far more content than they download, and the Wi-Fi 7 system was engineered accordingly. Free fan Wi-Fi was sponsored by Xfinity (Comcast).
The previous network history tells its own story: 1,200 Aruba access points at opening in 2014, upgraded to 1,300 Cisco Wi-Fi 6 units for the 2024 season, then replaced entirely with Wi-Fi 7 for the Super Bowl. Each generation brought measurably higher throughput and lower latency, but the leap to Wi-Fi 7 was the most significant — enabling the venue to handle more than 70,000 simultaneous device connections without degradation.
Cellular infrastructure received equally aggressive treatment. JMA Wireless installed a new digital distributed antenna system (DAS) capable of 5G, multi-band LTE, and future spectrum layers, with fibre infrastructure supplied by AFL (America Fujikura Ltd.). Carrier-specific deployments layered on top: Verizon added mmWave and C-Band antennas throughout the venue plus a dedicated C-Band small cell at the ride-share area; AT&T refreshed the in-stadium DAS and expanded macro and small cell sites around fan zones, deploying Cell on Wheels and Cell on Light Truck mobile units; T-Mobile leveraged its extensive 2.5 GHz mid-band spectrum with targeted mmWave in hot zones. In total, carriers executed nearly 200 individual projects spanning DAS, small cells, and backhaul across the San Francisco market.
The results on game day were remarkable. Ookla measurements showed Verizon delivering a median download speed of 2.16 Gbps and upload of 461 Mbps at peak — more than twelve times typical San Jose area speeds. Total data consumption reached 40.32 terabytes on Verizon (a 6% increase over Super Bowl LIX and five times the figure from Super Bowl 50 at the same venue in 2016) and 24.4 terabytes on AT&T, an all-time AT&T record for the stadium. From the 300 gigabytes consumed at the 2012 Super Bowl to more than 64 terabytes combined across two carriers in 2026, data usage at the big game has grown roughly 200-fold in fourteen years.
Cybersecurity as a spectator sport unto itself
The NFL’s cybersecurity apparatus has evolved into one of the most sophisticated event-security operations outside government. Led by George Griesler, Senior Director of Cybersecurity for the NFL, a 24/7 Joint Operation Centre inside Levi’s Stadium combined NFL security teams, stadium IT staff, and Cisco engineers operating under what Griesler calls a “blocking attack” philosophy — proactively stopping threats before they disrupt operations.
The full Cisco security stack was deployed: Splunk for SIEM and observability dashboards, ThousandEyes for network monitoring, Talos Intelligence Group for threat intelligence, Umbrella for DNS-layer security, Secure Firewall for perimeter defence, Meraki for network management, and XDR for extended detection and response. In the seven days before kick-off alone, the system processed 27,000+ active clients, blocked 400,000+ firewall connection attempts, and neutralised 47,000+ malicious DNS queries through Umbrella. Primary threats included short-lived malicious domains, credential compromises, and phishing campaigns exploiting NFL branding. At the previous year’s Super Bowl, the same stack had blocked 39,000 security intelligence events and 354,000 blacklisted connections, achieving 100% network uptime — a benchmark the 2026 team sought to match.
Tickets that refresh every fifteen seconds
Every Super Bowl LX ticket was 100% mobile-only, delivered through Ticketmaster, the Official Ticketing Partner of the NFL. The platform’s SafeTix technology — built on the Presence infrastructure launched in 2018 — generates encrypted barcodes that automatically refresh every fifteen seconds, rendering screenshots and photocopies useless. NFC tap-and-go entry via Apple Wallet and Google Wallet further streamlined ingress.
Each ticket transfer or resale on the NFL Ticket Exchange by Ticketmaster generated a fresh unique digital credential tied to the new holder’s device, creating a verified chain of custody. Third-party platforms including StubHub, SeatGeek, and Vivid Seats also carried inventory, but all legitimate tickets ultimately originated from Ticketmaster’s SafeTix ecosystem. Dynamic market forces were visible in secondary pricing: entry-level seats dropped 42% from approximately $6,500 post-conference championships to $3,800 on game day.
The NFL’s allocation model meant no tickets were sold directly to the public. Each participating team received approximately 12,450 tickets; the remainder went to the other 30 clubs, sponsors, partners, and the host committee. On Location (owned by TKO Group Holdings), the Official Hospitality Provider, controlled a significant slice of premium inventory, offering packages from approximately $4,950 per person that bundled verified digital tickets with hospitality experiences.
The NFL OnePass app served as the event companion rather than a ticketing platform, providing schedules, maps, transportation information, and access to interactive games at the Super Bowl Experience. Virtual commemorative tickets — NFTs minted on an eco-friendly blockchain — were available at no cost to fans who scanned in with a SafeTix ticket, continuing a programme the NFL has run for select games in recent seasons.
Thirty-five agencies and a weapons detector that doesn’t ask you to empty your pockets
Designated a SEAR Level 1 event by the Department of Homeland Security — the highest domestic security classification — Super Bowl LX mobilised 35+ federal, state, and local agencies across the Bay Area. The FBI, TSA, Secret Service, ATF, CISA, Coast Guard, DEA, FAA, and law enforcement from nine counties all participated.
At stadium entry points, fans passed through CEIA Opengate walk-through weapons detectors — wireless, portable towers weighing approximately 25 pounds each that allow attendees to walk through without emptying pockets of phones or keys, achieving near-zero nuisance alarm rates and up to six times faster throughput than traditional metal detectors. The TSA supplemented venue screening with detection-at-range technology at transit hubs: Thruvision Tactical Awareness Cameras (TAC) and QinetiQ SPO-NX systems that detect concealed weapons on moving individuals without emitting radiation or displaying anatomical detail. Approximately 30 TSA explosive-detection canine teams were deployed across key venues and San Francisco International Airport.
For credentialed access to restricted areas — playing fields, press boxes, locker rooms — the NFL deployed Wicket facial authentication technology across all 30 NFL stadiums. Credential holders submit a selfie; Wicket’s AI creates an encrypted mathematical representation matched against a database in under one second with 99.7% accuracy. The system integrates with Accredit Solutions’ dynamic credentialing platform to verify permissions at each checkpoint. During the 2024 season, 250,000+ credential holders were enrolled across 650+ Wicket devices league-wide, generating more than one million matched decisions. Critically, this technology is used exclusively for staff, media, and VIPs — not general admission fans.
Airspace security included FAA Temporary Flight Restrictions establishing a 30-nautical-mile radius no-fly zone around the stadium on game day, FBI drone-detection and counter-drone technology creating an invisible dome over the venue, DOE Nuclear Emergency Support Team helicopters conducting radiological sweeps at 100-foot altitude, and CBP Air and Marine Operations Blackhawk helicopters with camera systems capable of live video downlink to ground command centres. FirstNet (AT&T’s dedicated public safety network) provided emergency communications with Band 14 spectrum priority.
The biggest broadcast production NBC has ever mounted
Super Bowl LX was broadcast by NBC (not Fox, which carried Super Bowl LIX) and marked the first time a Super Bowl and Winter Olympics aired in 4K HDR on a broadcast network and streaming platform simultaneously — 17 hours of continuous 4K HDR content from Milan Olympic coverage through post-game. Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth called the game.
NBC deployed 145 cameras for game and pregame coverage — 81 for the game itself and 64 for pregame — with a total of 175+ Sony cameras across the entire production footprint including broadcast, aerial, point-of-view, cinema, still photography, and in-venue operations. The detailed breakdown included 35 Sony HDC-5500 system cameras, 18 POV cameras (HDC-P50/P50A series), five cinema cameras (PXW-FX9, PMW-F55), two SkyCams (including a “High Sky” variant), and 15 halftime-show cameras (11 Sony VENICE 2, 3 Sony BURANO, 1 Sony FR7 Cinema Line PTZ). Canon and Fujifilm supplied broadcast lenses. 130 microphones captured audio, and 75 miles of cable connected the NBC compound to the stadium.
Production partner NEP Group supplied 15 mobile units totalling 29 individual broadcast trailers across a compound supporting 14 different customers producing live content at seven-plus venues. NEP’s Supershooter 71 served as the physical hub for the TFC (Total Facility Control) platform — a software-based IP 2110 infrastructure orchestration system that allowed the entire compound to behave as a shared technical environment, providing “hundreds of gigabits” of connectivity versus the roughly 20 traditional paths. NEP also deployed 60+ specialty camera systems from its Specialty Capture division including robotic, high-frame-rate, and RF cameras. EVS provided 432 replay channels across VIA, PMX, and XtraMotion units. In total, 700–800 credentialed crew members staffed the operation.
Several technology firsts debuted. The Sony Hawk-Eye Virtual Measurement System replaced the physical chain gang for line-to-gain measurements, delivering a 40% improvement in speed and efficiency. Hawk-Eye SkeleTRACK provided fully integrated optical player tracking (29 body points per player plus 3D ball tracking), working alongside Zebra Technologies RFID wearables. SMT’s AR wind visualisation — built on Unreal Engine and powered by live data from Weather Applied Metrics (WAM) sensors around the stadium — showed real-time wind conditions overlaid on broadcast camera feeds. And Sony’s NFL Coach’s Headsets, deployed league-wide since the 2025 season, made their Super Bowl debut.
Streaming reached fans through Peacock (NBC’s paid platform), NFL+, and Spanish-language broadcasts on Telemundo and Universo. Comcast’s RealTime4K technology delivered reduced-delay 4K with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio on Xfinity devices. Peacock’s “The Dial” — its internal live-scaling control system — enabled rapid capacity increases for the tentpole event. Latency testing by Stats Perform and independent analyst Dan Rayburn showed Peacock as the lowest-latency streaming option at approximately 48 seconds behind on-field action (versus 19 seconds for over-the-air broadcast).
Internationally, DAZN NFL Game Pass distributed the broadcast worldwide (excluding the US and China) with local-language options in six languages and Dolby 5.1 surround sound on its Ultimate tier.
Thirty-two thousand square feet of 4K LED and a crowd turned into a video screen
The $200 million renovation’s most visible outcome was two new ANC Technologies 4K video boards anchoring the north and south end zones. Each spans more than 16,000 square feet at a resolution of 9,120 × 2,400 pixels — 70% larger than the original Daktronics displays they replaced and boasting 300% more pixels. The full glass-to-glass 4K production pipeline means all cameras capture in 4K, all systems process in 4K, and the boards display in 4K, making them the largest outdoor glass-to-glass 4K displays in the NFL. ANC Technologies, which signed a 10-year partnership with the 49ers, also installed new LED ribbon boards at the third deck, bringing total new LED signage to approximately 55,000 square feet — more LED area than One Times Square.
In-stadium production runs through a rebuilt control room integrating footage from 36 cameras across 49 screens. The venue’s sound system was upgraded by Clair Global with a fourth pod of subwoofers and Powersoft amplifiers, designed by AV consultant WJHW. Musco Sports Lighting installed the new LED field lighting system including 64 RGB fixtures for coordinated colour shows, reducing energy consumption by approximately one-third compared to the previous system. Communications backbone Riedel deployed its Artist Matrix intercom, 30+ Bolero wireless beltpacks, 25 Bolero antennas for full coverage, and 24 MediorNet FusioN 6B Gateway frames for video, data, and control transport over single LC fibre pairs.
The halftime show — the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show featuring Bad Bunny — deployed its own technology arsenal. PRG (Production Resource Group), in its 20th consecutive year supporting the halftime show, provided lighting equipment and crew. Lighting designer Al Gurdon of 22 Degrees confronted the challenge of performing in partial daylight in an open-air West Coast stadium, prioritising output, throw distance, and contrast. Production designer Bruce Rodgers of Tribe Inc. (his 20th Super Bowl halftime) and Yellow Studio created an elaborate Puerto Rican village set. But the standout technology was PixMob’s deployment of 68,000+ custom football-shaped 9-LED daylight-visible badges distributed to every fan, synchronised via PixMob’s “Human Video Screen” MVT controller to turn the crowd into a massive coordinated LED display during the performance. It was PixMob’s eighth Super Bowl and featured their brightest-ever daylight-visible LED technology.
Cashless, checkout-free, and forty seconds from entry to exit
Levi’s Stadium has been a fully cashless venue since 2020, with Visa as the official payments partner. Reverse ATMs (cash-to-card kiosks) are stationed at four locations for fans without cards, with a $500 per-transaction limit.
The most forward-looking F&B technology is Zippin’s AI-powered checkout-free system, deployed in two “Blitz Bar” formats: a dedicated drink-lane configuration and a “walk-up” format that wraps Zippin’s technology around existing concession infrastructure. Fans enter by tapping a credit card or mobile wallet, grab their items, and exit — Zippin’s AI identifies purchases and charges automatically. Typical transaction time: approximately 40 seconds. The venue also operates QR code-based “Scan & Pay” mobile ordering through the 49ers app, 11 self-service kiosks at concession stands powered by Levy’s E15 Group analytics subsidiary, and the e-Levy platform for premium suite pre-ordering.
All food and beverage operations are managed by Levy Restaurants (a Compass Group subsidiary), which created a Bay Area-themed Super Bowl LX menu. The renovation added 120+ remodelled luxury suites with private dining, a rooftop experience called Appellation 49 featuring local wine, and a field-level Elevate Club with curated seating and freshly prepared sushi.
Net-zero ambitions and AI-powered recycling bins
Levi’s Stadium holds dual LEED Gold certifications — the first NFL stadium to achieve both New Construction and Operations & Maintenance designations. Its 1,162 SunPower E20 Series solar panels across three pedestrian bridges and a rooftop canopy generate 464 MWh annually at a peak output of 375 kW, enough to offset all ten regular-season home games and achieve net-zero energy for the NFL calendar. A 27,000-square-foot green roof atop the SAP Tower features 16 native Bay Area plant species, and the Faithful Farm — the NFL’s first rooftop farm, maintained by Farmscape — yields 7,500+ pounds of produce annually from 40+ rotational crops. Approximately 85% of venue water comes from recycled sources, and fixtures have reduced consumption by 44%.
For Super Bowl LX specifically, the NFL partnered with PepsiCo and Bold Reuse to expand a reusable cup programme that had already prevented 32,000+ disposable cups from reaching landfill during the 2025–26 season, extending it to 4,000+ seats for the big game. Oscar Sort AI-powered recycling units — interactive systems that gamify waste sorting — were deployed at the Super Bowl Experience. Over 200 additional recycling bins were added across the stadium campus, staffed by dedicated sustainability personnel. A live sustainability dashboard between the 49ers Museum and Team Store displays real-time energy, water, and air-quality measurements.
A fan festival powered by NFL OnePass and AI-generated helmets
The Super Bowl Experience Presented by Jersey Mike’s at Moscone Center welcomed more than 100,000 fans across five days. The NFL OnePass app was required for all interactive games, which included LED-screen-projected virtual 40-yard dashes against NFL players, a Roblox-integrated digital racing experience, and photo opportunities with all 59 Super Bowl rings and the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Technology-forward sponsor activations included Adobe Firefly AI experiences allowing fans to design customised NFL helmets and cleats using generative AI APIs, and Meta’s deployment of Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses for POV content creation by athletes and creators at “Meta House.” The adjacent BAHC Live! San Francisco Fan Zone at Yerba Buena Gardens featured cutting-edge technology showcases and a Kaiser Permanente “Training Bay” with tech-enhanced sports medicine interactions.
Perhaps the most consequential off-field technology event was the BAHC Super Bowl LX Innovation Summit at SFMOMA, where YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, Meta CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, FanDuel CEO Amy Howe, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian addressed 600 leaders across technology, sport, and media. Dolby Laboratories provided immersive experiences as a presenting partner. The summit underscored Super Bowl LX’s unique positioning at the intersection of Silicon Valley’s technology ecosystem and the NFL’s operational ambitions.
What Super Bowl LX signals for the events industry
The technology deployed at Levi’s Stadium on 8 February 2026 was not experimental — it was operational at scale, stress-tested by 70,823 fans generating unprecedented data loads, scrutinised by 35+ security agencies, and broadcast to 137.8 million viewers at peak. Several trends stand out for event technology professionals.
First, Wi-Fi 7 is stadium-ready. Cisco’s deployment proved that 6 GHz, hyper-directional Wi-Fi 7 can serve a Super Bowl crowd with the uplink capacity that social-media-obsessed audiences demand. The leap from 300 gigabytes at the 2012 Super Bowl to 64+ terabytes in 2026 makes next-generation wireless not a luxury but a structural necessity.
Second, converged network architectures are replacing siloed systems. The hyperconverged core at Levi’s Stadium runs ticketing, POS, medical, broadcast, and fan connectivity on a single segmented infrastructure, reducing complexity and improving resilience. The cybersecurity benefits — a unified security stack rather than fragmented point solutions — were demonstrated by the NFL’s ability to block hundreds of thousands of threats without a single minute of downtime.
Third, frictionless commerce is scaling beyond pilots. Zippin’s checkout-free Blitz Bars, fully cashless operations, and QR-based mobile ordering represent a maturing technology stack that reduces queue times and increases per-capita spend — metrics every venue operator watches.
Fourth, broadcast and venue production are converging. The glass-to-glass 4K pipeline, IP 2110-based orchestration via NEP’s TFC platform, and optical player tracking via Hawk-Eye SkeleTRACK blur the line between what is produced for broadcast and what is produced for the in-venue experience. Fans inside the stadium saw 4K replays on 32,000 square feet of ANC LED whilst viewers at home saw the same feeds processed through 432 EVS replay channels.
Finally, security technology is becoming invisible. CEIA Opengate weapons detectors that do not require pocket-emptying, Wicket facial authentication that verifies credentials in under a second, and detection-at-range systems that screen moving crowds without checkpoint bottlenecks point towards a future where robust security and frictionless fan experience are no longer in tension.
Super Bowl LX was, in the end, a proof of concept — not for any single technology, but for the proposition that a venue built in 2014 can be comprehensively reborn through a $200 million technology investment, executed by a coordinated ecosystem of vendors, and validated by the most-watched single event in American media. The stadium that rebuilt itself has set the benchmark for every major venue project to follow.
