Miami was the center of the pro football universe this past week as it welcomed Kansas City and San Francisco to battle it out in the Big Game. For over a year, our network team dedicated thousands of hours to ensure the network was ready for every touchdown, punt and celebratory moment from Sunday's biggest night. And fans were out in full force using their mobile devices to share experiences from the center of the action.
At the Miami stadium on Sunday, fans used more than 10.2 Terabytes (TB)* of data. That’s equal to taking more than 28 million selfies from the stands or streaming high-definition video for almost 2 months (55 days) straight.
Even greater, we saw more than 14.5 TB of data cross our network within a 2-mile radius of the stadium on Sunday alone. That’s equal to streaming all the halftime show songs on repeat for over 4,350 hours. Mobile traffic within a 2-mile radius of game-related events taking place Saturday, Jan. 25 through Sunday, Feb. 2, including fan festivals, concerts, the game and other activities, totaled more than 172 TB of mobile data. That’s equal to more than 491 million social media posts with photos.
Each year, the demand to support fans’ mobile data usage grows. This is just one of the reasons we start our network preparations so far in advance. We want fans to experience and share their favorite moments of the game uninterrupted on the nation’s fastest network.**
Breaking data records
Breaking data records is something we’ve come to expect from football fans, and this year didn’t disappoint:
- Data traffic from the Big Game alone was up 444% compared to the average pro football game nationwide in 2019.***
- At half-time, more than 370 gigabytes (GB) of data crossed our network within 15 minutes— making it the most-shared moment of the game.
- During the fourth quarter, our customers used a whopping 1.2 TB of data. Kansas City's 21-point fourth quarter matched the most productive in Big Game history - and our data shows customers were busy sharing the exciting plays.
This year’s regular season data didn’t disappoint either. Data usage totaled more than 434 TB for the 2019 football season. If total mobile data used throughout the regular season determined the outcome of the football championship, then Dallas would celebrate as data champion.
Keeping fans safe
And with fans out in full force to celebrate, it was the thousands of first responders that helped make this massive public safety event a success. Even with the high traffic, first responders using FirstNet didn’t have to compete with attendees for access to network resources.
With FirstNet's always-on priority and preemption, responders were able to confidently communicate and coordinate before, during and after the game and focus on what matters most - keeping fans safe. FirstNet is the nationwide communications platform dedicated to America's first responders and public safety community.
No matter which team you support, we can all agree that sharing your experiences with loved ones is important. That's why AT&T is there with its reliable network to make sure fans can share all the game-changing moments.
Footnotes:
*Total data from 10 AM-1 AM on Sunday, February 2 in and around the stadium.
**Based on analysis by Ookla® of Speedtest Intelligence® data average download speeds for Q4 2019. Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission.
***All data metrics come from AT&T customers at venues with a DAS where AT&T's mobile network is on-air. These metrics are not comprehensive of every game played during this season for college or pro football.
