Goal! How telco providers can win the football fan experience this summer

When the world’s biggest football showdown kicks off once again in June, it will make history as the first to span three nations: Canada, Mexico and the United States.

For telecommunication providers, this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to prove their networks can handle the ultimate stress test. With billions of fans watching, sharing and streaming simultaneously, there’s zero margin for error.

While cutting-edge advances in network slicing, private networks and automation provide the technical foundation, the real victory comes down to something simpler: keeping fans, players and partners seamlessly connected during the moments that matter most. A dropped video call during a goal celebration or a frozen payment app at the stadium concession stand isn’t just a technical glitch, it’s a memory ruined.

When millions of fans flood a network simultaneously, even minor issues can become catastrophic failures in seconds. The operators who win will be those who can detect problems instantly and respond before fans even notice.

Critical network vulnerabilities to fix before the matches

Fans won’t remember the network; they’ll remember whether they could FaceTime loved ones, stream a key goal or relive historic moments without interruption. Video quality, low latency and reliability become the unsung heroes of fan satisfaction. 

Here are the areas where networks are most vulnerable, and recommendations for what to put in place now.

Micro outages: These brief network disruptions introduce latency and performance degradation without completely taking down services. At mega events, such incidents can become disastrous, damaging customer trust and the brand’s reputation. The challenge is that micro outages are difficult to detect in the moment; yet during high-traffic events, they can rapidly turn into full-scale outages if operators can’t spot and resolve them quickly.

• Recommendation: Partner with a vendor who provides advanced analytics tools equipped with automated root cause analysis. This combination enables teams to identify network issues instantly and understand exactly what’s causing them, reducing response times from hours to minutes.

Performance degradation: Performance degradation at mega events creates a cascade of problems for operators – from SLA breaches and revenue loss through failed transactions, to overwhelmed support teams struggling to diagnose issues that don't trigger clear alerts. For customers, it can create constant uncertainty that affects fan experience and negatively impacts thousands simultaneously, turning frustrating moments into viral social media complaints that can damage the operator’s reputation for years.

• Recommendation: Partner with a vendor offering AI and machine learning capabilities that automatically triage network issues as they emerge. These systems utilize large language models to annotate problems with context, identify failure patterns and automatically escalate issues to the correct technical owner, thereby eliminating the need for manual sorting and ensuring that critical issues are directed to the right experts immediately.

Gap analytics: Currently, the average gap in which analytics can be gathered to analyze and improve performance is 3.8 days. At mega events where network conditions change by the minute, waiting that long for complete data means operators are essentially flying blind during the most critical periods. By the time they can fully analyze what went wrong, the event may already be over.

• Recommendation: Partner with a vendor who can execute advanced use cases, conduct preliminary root cause analysis automatically and report on actual customer experience metrics in real time. The platform should deliver actionable issue lists complete with symptoms, potential causes and specific investigation recommendations, transforming teams from reactive firefighters into proactive problem solvers. This real-time intelligence enables operators to detect and resolve issues within minutes, rather than days, ensuring that problems from early matches don’t recur throughout the tournament.

A true end-to-end experience

Another thing to remember is that the customer experience doesn’t start at kickoff. It begins the moment fans arrive at the stadium and continues long after the final whistle. From parking lot connectivity to post-match celebrations, every interaction matters. Telecommunication providers must also extend seamless coverage to watch parties, bars, and fan fest events, ensuring fans outside the stadium don’t miss a single moment of action.

Typically, stadiums prioritize enhanced indoor coverage using small cell technology, as private networks in these environments can be costly and often underutilized. Beyond just coverage, stadiums can also host media processing servers — which feature powerful on-premises edge cloud capabilities for real-time data processing at the source — to handle live broadcasts and stitch together multiple video feeds. This could include 360-degree views from a goalie camera or six to eight stationary cameras positioned around the field.  

Balancing network investment costs 

Planning for this tournament is a massive operational challenge, where failure could mean more than dropped calls or slow streams. It could result in customer churn, reputational damage and significant financial losses.

Operators must weigh the cost benefit of investments carefully. What are they truly willing to spend to ensure every fan can stream seamlessly, share moments instantly and stay connected? Beyond traditional planning processes, this means deciding whether to invest in additional capacity, deploy temporary cell sites near stadiums or build out private networks to handle surging demand.

The bottom line

Delivering exceptional experiences at the tournament isn’t just about faster networks; it’s about reliability, security and innovative services that enhance the fan journey from start to finish. By focusing on customer experience, operators can support record-breaking events while strengthening their brand, opening new revenue streams and creating lasting fan loyalty.