A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Sporting Kansas City’s Match-Day Experience
The Daktronics Experience Podcast visited Sporting Kansas City and Children’s Mercy Park to hear all about the experience they provide for their fans using LED technology.
Justin Ochsner on 7/15/2024
Categories: Pro Sports and Colleges
When the lights come on and the ball is placed at center field for kickoff, Children’s Mercy Park is ready to host a soccer experience like no other. Sporting Kansas City’s home field is a sight to behold on match day. That’s why Justin and Matt visited the venue to take in a game and talk to Blake McFarland, Sporting KC’s Director of Match Experience, and Josh Blackford, Sporting KC’s Vice President of Operations and General Manager of Children’s Mercy Park, for an episode of The Daktronics Experience Podcast.
In the episode, they cover the fan experience, their collaborative efforts, the evolution of LED video displays and so much more. Here are some key takeaways from this episode.
Josh on the fan experience:
“Everything we do, we do from the lens of fan experience. At the end of the day, we just want to provide the best experience that we can for our fans. And we’re consistently trying to improve the experience incrementally every day.”
Blake on improving the fan experience:
“We’ve incorporated a post-match fireworks show. And this year, it’s going to be totally different with our new displays, our lights and everything else we’re doing for that.”
Josh on the impact of new technology:
“Generally, it’s impactful, right? We knew it was going to be impactful. We had a great template to start from with our design and fitting into the stadium architecture. Then, we kept on pushing things along to keep advancing the ball.”
Blake on setting new standards:
“It wasn’t just catching up. It was trying to set the new standard and go a little bit further and do a little bit more than we did previously to really make that fan experience better.”
For all of these quotes and so much more, watch this episode of the podcast by clicking here or listen to it by clicking here. The commitment of Josh, Blake and the entire Sporting KC team to enhance the fan experience is truly inspiring. They work hard to ensure every game is not only entertaining but full of memorable moments their fans can remember for a long time and will keep them coming back for more matches at Children’s Mercy Park.