Wi-Fi engagement insights from Super Bowl LIX

Super Bowl: breaking records beyond the field

26 February 2025

As tens of thousands of fans packed into the Caesars Superdome to experience Super Bowl LIX, their smartphones were just as engaged as they were, capturing every touchdown, streaming instant replays, and sharing unforgettable moments in real-time. Behind the scenes, Extreme Networks delivered cutting-edge Wi-Fi analytics, ensuring seamless connectivity in virtually one of the most demanding network environments on the planet. Let’s dive into the game-changing network insights from the clash between Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City, where the action extended far beyond the gridiron!

The Super Bowl is more than just a football game – it’s more of a cultural phenomenon and one of the biggest annual events in the world. Held every February, it serves as the championship game of the National Football League (NFL). But its significance extends far beyond sports. In the U.S., the Super Bowl is a national holiday in spirit, bringing millions together for watch parties and social gatherings. It's the most-watched television event of the year, drawing over 100 million viewers, and its halftime show has become a legendary stage for the world's biggest artists. Brands compete for advertising spots, spending millions on commercials that often go viral, shaping pop culture in real time.

Super Bowl LIX was a record-breaking battle in the digital arena as well. For the twelfth year in a row, Extreme Networks has been instrumental in enabling this success, providing the NFL and the Super Bowl with cutting-edge Wi-Fi analytics through our ExtremeCloud Business Insights for Venues solution. While Caesars Superdome does not utilize Extreme Wi-Fi, our advanced analytics platform delivered essential insights to the NFL, offering a comprehensive view of Wi-Fi usage, network performance, application trends, fan movement patterns, device types, traffic surges, popular concession areas, and much more, informing key business decisions.

Let’s talk numbers!

Super Bowl LIX was an unforgettable event, with fans actively engaging online and sharing their excitement in real time. This high level of digital interaction led to an incredible 17.2 terabytes (TB) of data being transferred over the Wi-Fi network. To put that into perspective, that’s equivalent to streaming over 8,600 hours of football on the NFL+ platform or playing Kendrick Lamar’s latest album, “GNX,” more than 17,200 times. On average, each connected device consumed 1.3 GB of data, highlighting the immense digital participation of fans throughout the game.

What does it mean?

Network data offers the NFL critical insights into fan behavior and engagement, allowing a deeper understanding of how spectators interact with digital content during the game. By analyzing app usage and data transfer trends, the NFL can refine its approach to content delivery, enhance in-stadium experiences, and develop targeted marketing campaigns that better connect with fans. Additionally, identifying peak engagement moments helps optimize Wi-Fi infrastructure, ensuring smooth and reliable connectivity – ultimately making each game a more immersive and enjoyable experience for everyone.

Investing in Wi-Fi, though it does scale up and down, is not insignificant. Our belief is you are going to make that investment; you should get something back. It should be an intelligent infrastructure that can enable you to make better business decisions about where to invest your digital dollars and how to make some operational improvements along the way.

Kevin Wittnebert, Senior Director of Venues, Sports, and Entertainment Sales, Extreme Networks

I think it is fair to say there has been a renewed appreciation for the role of the network in business operations. Nobody used to understand the network, but now it seems more and more, you are relying on network data to help make decisions. It went from an amenity and running water to something that can inform. Wi-Fi consumption informs. Wi-Fi interaction informs. Timing informs.

Brian Himstedt, CIO and VP of Technology & Business Analytics, Kansas City Royals

The biggest moments: a play-by-play game analysis by Extreme

Super Bowl LIX was a thrilling event that had fans hooked from the very beginning. The pregame festivities of Super Bowl LIX were spectacular, featuring captivating performances that set the tone for the event. The moment that genuinely had fans on the edge of their seats was when the teams took the field, announced by celebrities Jon Hamm and Bradley Cooper, driving the highest bandwidth spike of the pregame at 11.2 Gb/s.

Super Bowl LIX was filled with intense moments that kept fans engaged throughout the whole match. As the game unfolded, touchdowns, sacks, and interceptions kept fans on the edge of their seats. In the halftime, Samuel L. Jackson introduced Kendrick Lamar, who performed a series of hits including “HUMBLE,” “DNA,” and his 5-time Grammy-winning song, “Not Like Us.” The closing song generated 10.4 Gb/s of data usage as fans shared their excitement, making it one of the most engaging moments of the big night.

Application breakdown

Fans actively engaged with a variety of apps during Super Bowl LIX, and with ExtremeCloud Business Insights, the NFL gained valuable data on fan preferences, helping them connect with audiences more effectively. Among social platforms, Facebook led the charge, while on the sports side, fans were most active on the NFL app, followed by other major sports apps like ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, and Bleacher Report. By analyzing app usage, the league can understand how fans interact with digital content, refine digital strategies, optimize content, and tailor future experiences accordingly.

Wi-Fi vs 5G – rivals or allies?

Extreme’s advanced analytics platform indicates that the stadium’s legacy Wi-Fi infrastructure, combined with a significant 5G investment by Verizon, led to an unusual and atypical distribution of 5G vs. Wi-Fi usage. For example, when comparing Super Bowl LIX (65,000 attendees) to the Daytona 500 (101,500 attendees), there is a notable difference in Wi-Fi usage patterns, highlighting the impact of network infrastructure on fan connectivity.

In his white paper, “Private Cellular or Wi-Fi? Isn’t an Either/Or Question: You Can Have Both,” Zeus Kerravala of ZK Research is emphasizing the importance of utilizing both cellular and Wi-Fi networks in high-density environments¹. While cellular networks play a key role, Wi-Fi remains essential for ensuring seamless connectivity, particularly in crowded venues like stadiums. With its ability to efficiently handle large volumes of data traffic, Wi-Fi provides reliable connectivity not only for fans but also for crucial back-of-house operations.

Cellular will not kill Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi will not eradicate cellular. The two technologies are highly complementary. Simply put, they work well together, and enterprises can use them in concert to create a network that meets their wireless requirements.

Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst, ZK Research

¹ https://www.extremenetworks.com/resources/white-paper/private-cellular-or-wi-fi-is-not-an-either-or-question-you-can-have-both

The winning formula

With 12 consecutive Super Bowls leveraging Wi-Fi analytics, 29 NFL teams utilizing Extreme Business Insights, and 12 teams relying on ExtremeWireless, Extreme Networks is proud to serve as the Official Wi-Fi Network Solutions Provider and the Official Wi-Fi Analytics Provider of the National Football League.

Learn more about our partnership with NFL