Avoid a Delay of Game When It Comes to Connectivity for Your Sports Patrons
For bar and restaurant owners, relying on live streaming of sports events may come with uninvited penalties.
Fourth down, 12 yards to go, 20 seconds on the clock. It’s crunch time, and the joint is positively jumping. Patrons, diners, and fanatical fans have packed the room to the walls, cheering wildly, quaffing beverages, and ordering a couple more plates of hot wings as the afternoon game reaches a pivotal inflection point.
It’s not just a big moment in the game; it’s also a marquee day for the grateful restaurant or bar owner who’s about to set a one-day record for total receipts. Nothing like Sunday afternoon NFL football games to pack ‘em in.
And now, here it comes: The quarterback takes the snap, surveys the chaos downfield and miraculously eludes a menacing defensive lineman. All eyes are riveted to the big-screen TVs ringing the room as he prepares to sling the ball toward the end zone. Could it be? Might it be? We see the ball arcing toward the receiver and…
And then: a failure of the ages.
It’s not that the pass-catcher for the home team just dropped an easy over-the-shoulder lob. It’s worse. Displayed on the screen is not a TD celebration but instead the dreaded spinning wheel of digital death.
Only seconds ago, there was classic football action: helmets, uniforms, collisions, excited announcers and the possibility of a play whose outcome is about to go down in football lore.
Now, there’s nothing but a collective groan and a loud chorus of “You have got to be kidding me.” Patrons resort to pulling mobile devices out of their pockets to try to understand what just happened on the field as the TV sets display nothing but an annoying icon.
Whether the fault stems from a distant cloud server outage, a streaming box that needs a restart, or an overwhelmed Internet connection doesn’t matter much. Instead, what will linger in the minds of everybody here is that when the game was on the line, they got robbed.
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Epic Fail: The Moment Your Stream Freezes
It’s a doomsday scenario, for sure. But it does happen. Hospitality industry TV systems that depend on video streaming risk the same frustrations that are all too familiar to TV fans at home.
The on-screen message advising that “there’s an issue with the livestream” is exactly what bar and restaurant managers don’t want to convey to a roomful of patrons who came here to watch the big game. Worse is that fairly or not (and usually it’s “not”), the venue is likely to get the blame for someone else’s techno foul-up.
Connectivity Challenges
One of the problems here is that live video streaming can suffer hiccups even in the best of conditions. High-speed, fiber-fed modems and ample Wi-Fi capacity by themselves cannot always overcome some of the tricky technical issues happening in the background. Huge swells of demand for TV streaming platform services can overtax the provider’s networking ecosystem, which is one reason the popular video streamer Netflix has encountered buffering and foibles around some of its live stream sports events, including the November 2024 Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing event.
That’s not all. Even when everything works perfectly (and the home team scores that winning TD!), a secondary annoyance commonly exists: latency. It’s a techno reference to the lag time that occurs along a complex telecommunications network.
The unspoken truth is that the audience for a streaming service routinely (albeit often unknowingly) is watching a delayed feed of the game. It’s not unusual for a play to conclude both on the field and over traditional live TV platforms several ticks of the clock before the same play is finally presented via a “live” streaming setup. Blame a complicated mix of multiple transmission feeds, signal grooming demands, hacker attacks, and the vagaries of the public Internet at large. The result – and it’s not a welcome one – is that it’s not unusual for fans armed with smartphone newsfeeds to know the outcome of a play before the other folks in the venue get to see it happen on the overhead big screen.
The upshot is that for all its amazing benefits, like deep on-demand menus and tremendous choice in content, streaming video isn’t entirely keeping up with the Joneses when it comes to satisfying the expectations of fans, enthusiasts and individuals who just want to enjoy the game.
People are already clued into some of the performance disparities between traditional TV services, such as cable television, and newer live-streaming entrants. A 2024 HarrisX consumer survey, for example, found that among those watching the National Football League’s Super Bowl in 2024, those viewing directly on TV via video package vs. streaming reported the best viewing experience with a greater quality of picture (94% vs. 84%), sound (93% vs. 87%) and connection stability (91% vs. 86%). They also encountered a better lack of time delay with the live coverage (86% vs. 78%) compared to streaming software. There were similar results for the NCAA men’s “March Madness” basketball tournament in 2024.
NFL’s 2024 Super Bowl Viewing Customer Satisfaction
2024 HarrisX consumer survey
To be sure, live events and video streaming are gaining momentum. Over time, some of the tricky problems that bedevil the medium may be reduced by smart engineers and technological improvements. Even as that progression takes place, it’s important to keep in mind some of the distinctions involving different delivery mechanisms for video streaming.
For example, HarrisX found notable disparities in satisfaction ratings between cable Internet connections and “wireless” Internet platforms. Among those watching the 2024 Super Bowl via streaming services, cable Internet provided the best viewer experience in terms of connection stability (89% vs. 82%) and less time delay vs. live TV (82% vs. 76%) compared to what’s called “fixed wireless” Internet services. Those numbers are only magnified when it comes to hospitality television offerings that serve multiple fans.
For these reasons, many venue owners are thinking hard about how to live stream to ensure the best game-day experience for some of their most loyal fans. After all, dramatic touchdowns are much better when you can actually watch them happen live.
Cable Internet vs. “Wireless” Internet Customer Satisfaction
2024 HarrisX consumer survey
Score Big on Game Day With Business Services Connect
If you’re tired of tech glitches stealing the spotlight from your patrons’ favorite sports moments, Business Services Connect is here to help. We specialize in delivering high-speed, reliable connectivity solutions that keep your big screens on and your guests cheering. From optimizing your network infrastructure to ensuring stable, low-latency streaming, we’ll craft the ideal solution for your bar or restaurant’s unique needs.
Contact us today for a free consultation. Discover how you can enhance the fan experience, boost your game-day revenue, and stay ahead of the competition—all with high-quality, seamless live sports coverage. Game on!
Getting Started With Business Services Connect
Business Services Connect simplifies the process of finding and setting up the best TV packages for your small business. Here’s how to get started:
- Visit our Business TV service to explore available TV service providers and plans.
- Enter your business address.
- Compare your options.
- Get connected with business TV providers that fit your needs.
Choosing the right TV services doesn’t have to be stressful. We’re here to help you find and connect with the providers that suit your budget, business needs, and customers. Get started today.
