Deloitte Imagines Bitcoin Betting in Stadiums of the Future

A new paper from Deloitte re-imagines the sports stadium concept in light of a number of developing technologies.

Notably, Deloitte gives the example of a fantasy sports-style interaction — a "game within the game" — where bets are placed using bitcoin "on in-game events, or use stadium-provided technology for other micro-transactions".

The consultancy sees the sports stadium experience as one ripe for technological innovation, building on what's already taking place on the court or field.

The paper explains:

The authors propose the development of a sports stadium that is more than a “concrete donut”, but rather a technology stack comprised of an experience layer, an enabling tech layer and a technology infrastructure layer.

By opening the stadium’s technology infrastructure to third-party developers, according to the paper, new services could be offering using blockchain and other nascent technologies.

Deloitte compares the idea of building a wide range of applications for stadiums to Apple’s development of its own hardware-as-a-platform for software products, which last year was a $6bn-a-year business in net revenue for the technology giant.

Image of screen on grass field via Shutterstock; Stadium graph via Deloitte