Augmented Reality via Quintar in the Works for Atlanta Hawks, State Farm Arena Fans

Multi-year deal promises fans new ways to follow the action, order concessions, and more

Quintar has inked a multi-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena to bring fans of both the Hawks and any other event at the arena a next-generation XR experience on mobile devices. Quintar — a leader in the space, most notably via its deal with the PGA TOUR — will focus on in-game features like basketball-shot heat maps and player-data cards, as well as gamification experiences and wayfinding services.

The Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena are working with Quintar to bring AR experiences to attendees at games and concerts.

The plan is to launch the service, which will reside within existing State Farm Arena apps, in time for the start of the season with a focus on the in-game experience. “We want to get the data pipes going and start doing some fun things to expand the value of watching the game in venue,” says Buddy Scott, SVP, platform products and experiences, Quintar. “We want to keep all the fans, whether they are watching the game or are not involved and engaged, and that could be things like sponsor activations or a game within the game. The goal is to create an entire system for a venue where you can spin up different things for the fan.”

Adds Kim Rometo, EVP/chief technology innovations officer, Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena, “We are thrilled to partner with Quintar to build experiences for the next generation of fans with a focus on tailored game-day experiences and interactive digital content. Quintar’s platform will allow State Farm Arena to become a canvas on which fans can explore and engage.”

A competitive advantage Quintar has, Scott says, is that it is not a marketing agency but rather a technology company and, therefore, the business model is fairly simple: Quintar’s SDK module is licensed by the client, who can build whatever services are desired within that module. Quintar will also work closely to ensure that the experiences are built out properly. “We will provide the experience design for the SDK wrapper,” Scott says. “Once that is done, the SDK wrapper just slides into the app.”

The industry as a whole has had an aggressive vision of next-generation fan experiences via mobile devices for more than a decade. Digital ticketing, ordering concessions before entering the building, and of course watching video feeds, alternative broadcasts, and stats overlays are just some of the ideas. The challenge, however, is that most companies in those spaces have launched looking to solve just one piece of that puzzle and, more often than not, financing ran out before revenues began.

Quintar, however, views things more holistically and couples its experience closely with the XR and AR capabilities of digital devices. By integrating into an existing app rather than creating a new one, the company can ride the coattails of more-important apps, with digital ticketing becoming the norm rather than the exception.

“Everybody has a phone and is now using it to get into the gate,” he notes. “But, once people get into the gate, they either put their phone away or use it to do something they shouldn’t be doing, such as not watching the game. We want to give them a different reason to use it as a base for entertainment or utility. And each reason is important.”

Key will be taking advantage of game data generated during live games: for example, displaying a player’s shot selection as fans hold their phones toward the court and see digital data displayed over the court.

“We have some ideas,” notes Scott, “but we want to do this in collaboration with the Hawks and State Farm. We have produced some of the things, so we know what we can do today; we can do almost anything with data, especially in the AR environment. But the Hawks are the experts in what their fans want, and that’s what the collaboration is all about. At the end of the day, the Hawks want to give their fans more value.”