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Florida Panthers boosts fan WiFi and venue ROI with Purple

By Richard Ellor
18 July 2023
3 min read
Florida Panthers boosts fan WiFi and venue ROI with Purple
Interactive ROI ToolFlorida Panthers Case Study Model • Stadium Fan Engagement

Stadium Fan WiFi ROI & Matchday Engagement Calculator

Model fan captive portal onboarding, annual CRM lead capture yield, digital sponsorship revenue, and high-density AP infrastructure sizing for your venue.

20,000 seats
8,00025,000
90% (18,000 fans)
50%100% (Sold Out)
58% (10,440 fans)
20% (Low)85% (Purple Optimized)
74% (7,726 / game)
30%90% (Gamified / Incentivized)
85 events/year
10 events180 events
$35 CPM
$15 CPM (Standard)$75 CPM (Premium Brand Activation)
Annual Verified Fan CRM Profiles
656,710
7,726 first-party opt-ins per game
Digital Sponsorship Revenue
$54,353
From splash banners & sponsor redirects
CRM Data & Retargeting Value
$2,101,472
Ticket sales & fan merchandise lifetime value
Total Annual Value Generated
$2,395,423
Direct monetization & venue marketing yield

Florida Panthers & Amerant Bank Arena Benchmark

At Amerant Bank Arena (20,000 capacity), the Florida Panthers leverage Purple Guest WiFi to seamlessly connect fans upon arrival. By embedding dynamic corporate partner branding and Ticketmaster/CRM integration directly into the captive portal, the franchise captures rich fan demographics, verifies email addresses, and delivers tangible digital ROI to corporate team sponsors.

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Contact Sports & Entertainment Team

Today Purple announced a new strategic partnership with one of the pre-eminent National Hockey League franchises, the Florida Panthers.

The Florida Panthers have chosen Purple's Guest WiFi and Verify solutions to improve fan experiences and utilise its audience reach to drive greater corporate partner value. Home of the Florida Panthers, FLA Live Arena, welcomes up to 20,000 fans per event, providing an additional opportunity to collect fan and visitor data first-hand as they access the WiFi and get online. 

Using a seamless access journey with dynamic branding capabilities, the Florida Panthers will be able to boost fan and visitor experiences while enriching its own CRM database. Additionally, the ability to directly market to fans and visitors means the Florida Panthers will be able to deliver even more value to its corporate partners.

“We are thrilled to join forces with the Florida Panthers, taking the fan experience to new heights. Together, we will revolutionise how fans connect to in-house WiFi, enhancing their game day experience and creating even more unforgettable moments on and off the ice,” said Gavin Wheeldon, Purple, CEO.

At FLA Live Arena we strive to deliver great fan and visitor experiences and we're confident our partnership with Purple can take this ongoing mission to the next level,” said Lauren Cochran, Chief Marketing Officer at the Florida Panthers.

Already working with a prestigious list of professional sports teams and venues - including the Brooklyn Nets Barclays Center and the Miami Heat Kaseya Center. Purple is proud to be working with the Florida Panthers FLA Live Arena among its growing list of stadiums and arenas partners aiming to add new value, enhance the fan experience and increase revenue opportunities for the franchise and its sponsors.

About Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers are celebrating their 30th Anniversary season in the National Hockey League in 2023-24.  Also known as the 'Cats', the league's southernmost team defeated the Carolina Hurricanes to become the 2023 Eastern Conference Champions and made their second appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in franchise history during the 2022-23 season. Under General Manager Bill Zito, the Panthers have grown into a tenacious, dynamic, and exciting team led by Team Captain Aleksander Barkov, superstar forward Matthew Tkachuk, stalwart defenceman Aaron Ekblad, two-time Vezina Trophy recipient Sergei Bobrovsky and a deep roster of proven and promising NHL talent. At home in Sunrise, Fla at FLA Live Arena, the Panthers welcome fans from the tri-county area, the South Florida region, and beyond. An organisation with deep roots in the community, a pillar programme 'Heroes Among Us' honours a military veteran at each game.

About Purple

Purple provides the sporting industry's most comprehensive, flexible, and proven indoor location services platform. The company has worked with some of the most trusted brands in the world delivering WiFi solutions that have been adding great value to their operations and customer experiences for over a decade. Purple, the innovative provider of indoor venue intelligence has recently been included as a Niche Player in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant report, for indoor location services.

Frequently asked questions

How do stadiums and NHL arenas manage high-density guest WiFi during sold-out matches?

High-density sports arenas like Amerant Bank Arena deploy narrow-beam directional access points beneath stadium seats and along catwalks. By disabling the 2.4 GHz band in seating bowls, utilizing 20 MHz clean channel bonding in 5 GHz and 6 GHz spectrum, and setting aggressive RSSI cell boundaries (-65 dBm), stadiums eliminate co-channel interference and support over 20,000 concurrent mobile connections.

How does captive portal WiFi improve fan data capture for sports franchises?

When fans connect to arena WiFi, the captive portal splash screen offers streamlined authentication via email, social logins, or Apple ID. This captures verified first-party fan demographics and attendance history, which synchronizes directly with team CRM platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Ticketmaster to power personalized marketing campaigns.

How do sports venues monetize guest WiFi through digital sponsorships?

Venues monetize guest WiFi by offering high-visibility digital real estate to corporate partners. This includes branded splash page takeovers, sponsored video pre-rolls, custom redirect URLs, and location-triggered digital coupon delivery during intervals and post-game celebrations.

What network hardware and access points support 20,000+ concurrent stadium users?

Enterprise stadium deployments rely on high-capacity WiFi 6, 6E, and WiFi 7 hardware from vendors such as Cisco Catalyst, Cisco Meraki, Aruba, Ruckus, and Extreme Networks. Purple integrates seamlessly with these controllers via cloud APIs to deliver captive portal authentication and presence analytics without requiring proprietary hardware.

How does stadium guest WiFi integrate with ticketing systems and CRM platforms?

Purple uses secure REST APIs and real-time Webhooks to push verified fan details into ticketing databases and CRM systems. This enables marketing teams to identify unregistered ticket holders, measure match attendance frequency, and deliver targeted ticket renewal offers.

Is fan data collected via stadium captive portals compliant with privacy regulations like CCPA and GDPR?

Yes. Purple enforces privacy-by-design consent architectures with explicit, unbundled opt-in checkboxes for marketing communications. Fans can access a self-service privacy portal to manage their communication preferences or request data erasure in compliance with CCPA, GDPR, and regional privacy frameworks.

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