Nokia Arena tech ‘ticket’ to success

Article posted by Coliseum, June 19^th, 2023

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Marko Hurme who helms the futuristic Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland, is proud of the fact that the venue boasts so much of tech trappings that fans can avail everything at a touch of the mobile screen.

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Hurme knows the ins and outs of the event and hospitality industry, and today is in charge of arena management, including overseeing venue strategy, sustainability, improving the experience for customers at the Nokia Arena.

Marko Hurme, CEO, Nokia Arena, Finland, reveals to ‘Coliseum’ how the multipurpose Nokia Arena offer everything to fans on a platter as the ticket for any event to the spiffy facility serves as the key to the hotel room, works as the public transportation ticket, and you name it, and fans have everything at their fingertips.

Nokia Arena

The 15,000-capacity Nokia Arena is an indoor arena in Tampere, Finland. It hosts ice hockey games, including the 2022 Men’s World Championship, and large cultural events. It is also the home arena of the Finnish professional ice hockey teams Ilves and Tappara of the SM-liiga (the top professional ice hockey league in Finland). Its construction was approved by the City Council of Tampere on May 19th, 2010. The Arena went on stream on December 3^rd, 2021.

Marko Hurme informed that about 160 events are held each year in the Nokia Arena and not only do hockey games take place but “the national basketball teams also play in the arena”.

EuroBasket 2025

He further informed that the Nokia Arena has been selected to host the 2025 edition of the FIBA EuroBasket national team tournament. The EuroBasket 2025 will be the 42^nd edition of the EuroBasket championship, the quadrennial international men’s basketball championship organized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Europe.

The Nokia Arena boasts 273 hotel rooms, Casino Tampere, 22 eateries for the gourmands and “we know how to be economically smart”.

The Nokia Arena sits in the heart of the City and all kinds of entertainment activities take place at the Arena “on a daily basis”.

Digital Delight

Added Hurme, “When the Nokia Arena was being conceived, we decided that we would build the Arena in such a manner so that event organizers from all over the world would get attracted to the venue like moths to a flame.”

The flavor of the Arena is that its access rights are digital, door environments are touchless and the wristbands of fans also acts as the key.

Continuing with his tech talk, Hurme stated, “We have 650 digital screens and our digital signage further buoy up the entire Arena environment.”

Nokia

He shared an interesting fact that though everybody knows Nokia as a communications and information technology company known for its mobile phones, nevertheless, there is a town which is lodged besides Tampere which is known as Nokia.

Robust 5G Speed

An overjoyed Hurme added that the Nokia Arena has the “fastest 5G connection among venues globally at the moment. The Wi-Fi network is so robust and superfast and this works to our favor as event organizers are more than keen to host events in our Arena and that provides grist to our revenue mill. And our fans can also navigate the Arena all by a swipe of their mobile screens. We try to provide the most exalted experience to our fans through our technology so that they keep coming back to the Arena and we also provide them all the information in realtime.”

Sum-up

Marko Hurme concluded by stating that “the technology, capabilities and the data available in and around the stadium provide building blocks for a whole ecosystem of interested parties who can innovate to create an evolved, safer and more entertaining experience for the visitors.”

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