“It's super awesome － they're putting a lot of time and money into making this a good show, taking it mainstream,” said Joseph Nelson, 18, who traveled from Scotch Plains, N.J. “I could here to be with people and enjoy the produced.”
“Hyperconnectivity” of the digital sort is important, especially for younger fans, according to a report from Deloitte last year. That could take the form of virtual assistants guiding customers through team shops or informing event organizers what highlights the crowd wants to see.
Companies like VenueNext, which has worked with Super Bowl host stadiums and Churchill Downs, home to the Kentucky Derby, create custom apps to help fans track which bathrooms have the shortest waits, order food to be delivered to their seats and watch replays on their phones. Avaya Stadium, home to the San Jose Earthquakes soccer team, erected a wall of screens nearly seven feet tall to aggregate real-time statistics, social media chatter, YouTube videos and other fan-generated content.
Still, designers are worried that visitors, accustomed to a spread of entertainment options at home, will get restless at a live event. So they’ve considering ways to connect fans to the live experience.
Designers envision using biometric data and motion effects to sync an entertainer’s heartbeat with pulses sent into spectators’ seats. Augmented reality stations could offer guests a digital backstage tour.
One rentable suite at Petco Park, home of baseball’s San Diego Padres, allows fans to play the video game “MLB: The Show” on PlayStation video game consoles while overlooking the field.
“The traditional arena was fundamentally designed around a static inseat experience,” Mr. Mirakian said. “But the behavioral patterns for this next-generation visitor are dramatically different － they want to come into the building and have the ability to choose their own adventure.”
Another bonus: Flexible venues are easier to finance at a time when taxpayers are less inclined to pick up part of the tab. Last year, voters in San Diego rejected a ballot measure that would have raised hotel taxes to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars toward helping erect a new football stadium for the Chargers. （The team opted to move to Los Angeles.）
Most economic experts believe that the benefits of stadiums are very likely to be outweighed by the costs to the taxpayers who fund the projects, according to a survey this year from the Initiative on Global Markets at Chicago Booth. After all, even with a full slate of events, many of those taxpayers may never set foot in the building, which the neighborhood may end up seeing as a hulking, self-contained island, siloed from the rest of the community.
That is a criticism that new venues are trying to address by better blending their surroundings and encouraging more visitors. Stadium and arena planners are trying to integrate hotels, lakes, parks, office buildings and other meeting places into their designs. Plans for venues like the Chase Center － a privately financed arena being built in San Francisco for the reigning N.B.A. champion Golden State Warriors that will include a waterfront park, restaurants and retail － refer to the complexes as “districts.”
Half of the concourse area used for the Little Caesars Arena, which opened last month in Detroit as the new home of the Red Wings and the Pistons, is accessible year-round, regardless of whether an event is scheduled in the main bowl.
“This way, we don't have these massively long runs of inactive street frontage when there's no game or concert,” said Ryan Gedney, a senior project designer at HOK, the architecture firm behind the arena. “It becomes a much harder-working venue day to day.”
