| 03/30/98 |
The Devil Rays ChoiceSeat network will officially launch its broadcast season on opening day against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, March 31, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. Nearly 200 ChoiceSeat units will initially be installed at the newly remodeled Tropicana Field in individual seats, suites and entertainment areas. One-hundred of the units will be located in the stadium's premium "scouting director seats" directly behind home plate. Other units will be placed in certain areas in the stadium's 300,000 square foot mall-like addition known as Center Field Street.
"Being a new franchise, we wanted to bring state-of-the-art technologies and opportunities to our fans," says Vincent J. Naimoli, Devil Rays' managing general partner. "When we became aware of the features provided by ChoiceSeat, we were excited to be a part of it. As a club, we evaluated interactive technology worldwide and ChoiceSeat offered us the best overall solution."
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays operate Tropicana Field for its owner, the city of St. Petersburg. The facility, which opened in 1990, is undergoing $75 million in renovations that will include an addition of 2,500 seats, completion of 65 private suites and construction of a three-level entertainment complex. After renovations, Tropicana Field will have a total of 45,200 seats.
The ChoiceSeat technology is also available in San Diego at Qualcomm Stadium. Padres' baseball fans, who tested ChoiceSeat's touch-screen network last season, will have even more options at their fingertips in 1998. Williams is planning to expand the features of the ChoiceSeat interactive sports entertainment network to include ordering concessions, viewing highlights from around the league and watching other video-on-demand.
Coming soon, the "Ball Park Mall" feature in ChoiceSeat's general menu will enable fans to order Padres' merchandise and concessions from a multimedia menu right from the seat so they won't miss a moment of the game.
ChoiceSeat provides fans an opportunity to become an interactive part of the game. By pressing virtual buttons on its 10-inch color touch-screen, fans are able to view live action from eight individual cameras in the stadium and on the field, watch replays from multiple angles and pull up a variety of statistics and real-time information from around the league. They can even play interactive games - everything from baseball trivia to bingo. Eight hundred Padres fans at each home game were the first to try ChoiceSeat in the 1997 pilot. About 400 units will again be available in Qualcomm Stadium during the 1998 Padre's season, beginning on April 7 and running through the end of September.
"These features provide additional value to ChoiceSeat," says Barry Goldberg, ChoiceSeat vice president and general manager. "With the added convenience of being able to place orders directly from their seats, we anticipate fans' enthusiasm to rise even further and purchases increase." "The pilot was an unqualified success for our fans," says Charles Steinberg, DDS, senior vice president of Public Affairs for the Padres. "Our club enjoys adding innovations that enhance fans' enjoyment of baseball, and this innovation was very well viewed."
"Baseball and technology will ride into the next millennium with an unusual, delicate balance," Steinberg predicted. "We hope our partnership with Williams will continue and provide years of benefit to the people of San Diego."
ChoiceSeat made its official debut at Super Bowl XXXII in 1998 and was created to enhance the excitement of being in the ballpark with the extra information of watching the game on television.
About Williams (NYSE:WMB)
Williams, through its subsidiaries, provides a full range of traditional and leading-edge energy and communications services and is the nation's largest-volume transporter of natural gas. Its communications enterprises include nationwide single-source business communications systems integration; international video satellite and fiber-optic transmission; multipoint video- and audio-conferencing; satellite business television applications; interactive technical training, on-demand distance learning, and Internet and telemarketing services. Company information is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.williams.com, www.wilcom.com and www.vyvx.com.
Vyvx is a registered trademark of Williams Communications, Inc. ChoiceSeat registration is pending.
All other products or company names are trademarks of their respective holders.
Contact Information:
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Lynne Butterworth 918/573-3692 lynne.butterworth@wilcom.com |
Dawn Brimberry 918/573-4424 dawn.brimberry@wilcom.com |