UPDATE, 8/31/22: While initial reports from fans who talked to concessions staffers blamed a Wi-Fi outage for the concessions issues at Aviva Stadium last weekend, a report in the Irish News outlet Indepentent.ie talked to the stadium’s caterers, Levy UK + Ireland, who pegged the problem as being with the payment-processing provider, not the stadium Wi-Fi.
From the report:
Levy UK + Ireland, who were supplying food and drink services at the event, said the technical issue was not the fault of Aviva Stadium, but lay with the payment provider, a company they said was called Sumup. “Due to technical issues caused by our payment provider, Sumup, we were unable to process card transactions for two hours at Aviva Stadium during the Northwestern Wildcats v Nebraska College football match,” a Levy UK + Ireland spokesperson said. “Reports that this issue was because of Aviva Stadium technical issues are inaccurate, the issue was solely down to the external network system which the payment provider operates on to process transactions.“
Though we have tried to reach a representative for Levy UK + Ireland, the company has not yet responded to Stadium Tech Report, either directly or through their PR firm. There is still no explanation from the venue or its suppliers on why the fan-facing Wi-Fi and cellular networks were also largely operational, which our on-site reporter did test.
(The rest of the original story appears below, with edits made to reflect the new information. Thanks to the Independent for its reporting.)
What’s better than an American football game in Ireland? How about an American football game with free Guinness? That probably wasn’t the plan Saturday but free beer and food was on the menu after apparent Wi-Fi network meltdown a payment processing outage made concessions payment systems inoperative at the venue Saturday, leading to food and beer giveaways for the fans present at the stadium.
Stadium Tech Report field scout Lisa Farrell (a diehard Northwestern fan) was on hand live in Dublin for the game, and her early stymied attempts at Wi-Fi speedtests, while frustrating, turned out to be unrelated to the free-beer-and-food situation that came about later.
“Wi-Fi is not good,” Farrell texted early on in the afternoon. “Can’t even send a text out.” A cellular speedtest barely registered on her phone, with a download speed of 0.05 Mbps and an upload speed of 0.22 Mbps. The lack of any other advanced fan technology left our field scout unimpressed.
“No in-seat ordering or anything else,” Farrell said.
According to numerous news reports and also from our on-the-scene reporter, the situation at halftime initially was dire, as the “cashless” stadium found itself flummoxed by the operational outages. “Concessions are cashless and their systems are down,” Farrell reported. “It’s a lot of chaos here trying to get something to drink.”
But just like when a similar situation occurred at Petco Park and Allegiant Stadium last year, the venue responded by giving the fans free food and drink — which, according to numerous reports on social media, kept fans in the concessions areas and concourses when play resumed to stock up on the free offerings.
Stadium Tech Report has inquiries out to the concession firms at Aviva Stadium to see if we can learn more about what happened.
The queue for alcohol at Aviva Stadium right now because everything is free due to the internet being down. pic.twitter.com/JWS4IxyfxR
— Amie Just (@Amie_Just) August 27, 2022
Props to this Chargers fan from Dublin, who is living his best life in the Aviva Stadium this evening! pic.twitter.com/TKX9wXBGwT
— Michael McQuaid (@Michael_NFL) August 27, 2022
