Fans of Football League clubs will have the opportunity to enjoy new club-branded official mobile applications following the signing of a ground-breaking seven-year agreement between The Football League and intechnologyWiFi.
The new apps will provide fans of participating clubs with a free digital hub featuring real-time content on their club, including the latest news, social media content, commentary, highlights and statistics, as well as betting – delivered in association with the League’s title sponsor, Sky Bet.
Fans will be able to access and use the new mobile apps seamlessly, 365 days a year – even inside busy stadiums on matchdays, thanks to the state-of-the-art, high-capacity stadium WiFi networks that intechnologyWiFi will deliver as part of the deal. Rather than facilitating open access to the internet, the combination of the stadium WiFi network and mobile application is designed to deliver the complete digital matchday experience to supporters.
Both the development and delivery of the new mobile apps and the installation and management of the stadium WiFi networks will be delivered by intechnologyWiFi at no cost to The Football League, its clubs or their fans. Instead, intechnologyWiFi will facilitate a host of new revenue generation opportunities to clubs.
The club mobile applications are being developed for iOS and Android users and will be free to download from the respective app stores.
Shaun Harvey, the Chief Executive of The Football League, said: “I am absolutely delighted to welcome intechnologyWiFi to working with The Football League and its clubs.
“Once again, The Football League is leading the way with regard to delivering digital solutions to its member clubs, so that they can enhance the supporter experience at their matches. The fact that intechnologyWiFi is able to deliver this solution at no cost, while also facilitating new revenue streams for our clubs, made this a compelling proposition.”
Peter Wilkinson, CEO, Intechnology plc, said: “This deal is a much-needed game-changer for the football fan wanting to enjoy their sport to the fullest and get closer to their club than ever before.
“Anyone who has tried to log-on in a stadium during a busy football match will know the sheer frustration of poor connectivity caused by bad WiFi or overburdened cellular networks (i.e. 3G or 4G), which can also be hugely expensive (in terms of data) for users. Our solution will revolutionise the digital match-day experience for fans, harnessing the power of great WiFi connectivity and the smartphone in the palm of their hand to deliver a market-defining digital content offering.”