UFC Wrestles With Wifi Problems

Christy King really wants to make one of the world’s fastest-growing sports even more engaging for its fans, if only technology would allow her.

King, the VP of technology for the wildly popular Ultimate Fighting Championship, told attendees at the On Deck sports technology conference in San Francisco on October 22 that technology limitations are holding back the so-called “second-screen” experience UFC provides for fans.

The biggest problem, by far, is the sad state of network bandwidth -- both WiFi and wired -- at most US arenas.

“We built this super fancy, pretty killer second-screen experience,” said King during an on-stage interview. “The problem is that the mobile app is really cool at a bar or at home, but basically useless at most venues.”

Any readers who’ve been at live sporting events and tried in vain to use their phones to access an instant replay know of what King speaks.

Read the rest of theis article on Enterprise Efficiency.