Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers & several sports teams enjoys 22Miles Interactive Wayfinding solutions with navigational mapping integrated into the arena’s official App
The Client
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (formerly Quicken Loans Arena) is a multi-purpose arena in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The building is the official home arena of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) as well as other major Ohio sports teams.
Back in 2019, the arena known as Cleveland’s “Q” arena for sports and entertainment underwent a massive renovation to the entire facility that in actuality served as more of a wholesale reinvention. Aside from the arena itself being completely reworked, management knew that a larger arena would also require an updated visitor, fan, and user experience that kept pace with the technology of the times.
The name changed from the well-known “Quicken Loan Arena” aka “The Q,” to the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. This new reimagined arena had more space, more amenities, and a new level of excitement for the city’s beloved sports fan base. An eight-story-high glass atrium greets fans as they enter the facility. Fan destinations and internal “neighborhoods” were added to give the arena a “world of its own” type of vibe, and the overall space had been expanded. The building is not subtle with its use of technology, highlighted by a one-of-a-kind, fully-immersive LED tunnel called the Power Portal. This was indeed the beginning of a new era in Cleveland.
The Challenge
Initially, to meet the challenge of providing a robust and efficient user experience within the sprawling multilevel sports arena, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse sought out an interactive wayfinding solution from 22Miles in what would become a “phase I” of the arena’s technology upgrade. The initial project saw the addition of a double-sided kiosk from 22Miles, providing wayfinding for accessibility seating, concessions, clubs and merchandise locations. The kiosk included two 75” LG 4K touchscreens displays (Model 75TC3D) and two intel i7 (Model NUC9i7BEHGA) players with a custom enclosure by BESCO. Click on the following link to check out the initial blog and read more about phase I of 22Miles & Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse Interactive Wayfinding for the Cleveland Cavaliers
Phase II – Innovation for a Post Pandemic Arena Experience
While the initial project addressed the past experiential needs for management and users via a double-sided kiosk, which gave users access to interactive wayfinding for accessibility seating, businesses and concessions, clubs and merchandise locations, along with an infusion of a custom interactive selfie feature to grant users a unique fan-friendly fun experience, COVID-19 came along. Technology as a form of innovation and user buy-in was one hurdle, but the technology for safety, communications, and protection of fans, players, and staff brought on new concerns and feature needs.
Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse like many other NBA and sports arenas, went through a new period of re-analysis and technology review in the wake of the worldwide pandemic. 22Miles’ global reputation for interactive wayfinding and mobile technology initially appealed to the organization’s user experience-based vision, but now needed to pivot into post-pandemic modernization. There was a desire to ensure preparation for emergency messages and communication, mobile technology synchronicity, and expandability for future considerations. In essence, management wanted to continue to build on what they had, while keeping an eye on the future for what they may need.
The Solution
22Miles interactive wayfinding with navigational mapping integration was added into the CAVS official App. The Wayfinding features a “You Are Here” QR Code into the arena’s digital signage displays, which are positioned in multiple locations throughout the arena. Additionally, 22Miles built out more functionality into the arena’s RMFH digital wayfinding platform, adding the QR codes to the Wayfinding displays. These additions allow fans and visitors to easily access and enjoy a visually modernized experience navigating the large arena within a contact-less touch-free experience on their own phones.
Since organizations now must prepare for the unexpected and follow safety protocols set forth by the CDC and other officials, a portion of the screen features rotating health and safety messaging. Arena officials also have the capability for the broadcast of evacuation and safety videos through timed script technology as well.
“It’s all working perfectly and looking really good, and we are very pleased that part of the screen can be used for our health and safety messaging, as well as video broadcast of evacuation and safety. 22Miles wayfinding is live within our App (championed by Westfield), and this is the official mobile app of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers.” – Nate Ferrall, Cleveland Cavs
Having recently won awards in 2020 for the Protection-as-a-Service suite of solutions which encompasses touch-less screens, interactive wayfinding, secure mobile control of new or existing digital screens on mobile devices, and thermal scanning software, 22Miles provides experiential technology solutions for large arenas, sports facilities, shopping malls, and virtually any type of organization.
The Results
From the initial project which coincided with the CAVS 50th anniversary, the CAVS 22 Miles solution evolved from a touch screen wayfinding installation to 3D mapping integration within the CAVS official app, and QR code mobile scan linked to digital screens throughout the arena that are capable of conveying navigational AND safety information. With 22Miles Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse can continue its facility evolvement, addressing the “fan side” and the functional side with a solution designed to allow for customization and flexibility.
Using 22Miles’ mobile app user interface, users can easily choose their start and end location at six displays across the arena, with the QR code operating as their own “you are here experience.” 22miles Wayfinding/Mobile technology is ideal for large arena sports facilities and convention centers seeking to incorporate wayfinding navigation, safety and post COVID informational integration, and touch-free scan technology into the user/visitor experience. 22Miles is the official integrated wayfinding APP experience within the Cavs NBA official app, which can be downloaded in the App Store.
