When 70,000 Fans Turn a Stadium Into a Real-Time Data Center
Super Bowl LX at Levi’s® Stadium isn’t just a championship game—it’s a massive data operation. Every pass tracked by sensors, every replay captured in 4K, every social media interaction, and every concession stand transaction generates streams of data that must flow seamlessly to millions of fans worldwide. In an era where a single buffering delay or inventory glitch can damage the fan experience, the infrastructure managing this data becomes as critical as the game itself.
NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP), the Official Intelligent Data Infrastructure Partner of the San Francisco 49ers and the NFL, has built the enterprise-grade platform powering Super Bowl LX operations. The challenge extends beyond storage capacity: data must move efficiently between the stadium’s physical systems, cloud platforms, and global distribution networks while maintaining performance for fans whether they’re in Section 127 or streaming from Madrid.
The Invisible Foundation Behind Every Touchdown Replay
“The world runs on data, even in an industry as physical as sports,” said Gabie Boko, Chief Marketing Officer at NetApp. “Optimizing data for innovation isn’t just about where the data lives, but also about how it moves. There is no place where that will be on display more clearly than Levi’s® Stadium during the Super Bowl.”
Levi’s® Stadium operates as what Boko describes as an “interactive data center” during game day. The facility hosts the NFL’s largest outdoor 4K display, real-time retail and concessions inventory management, and sensor arrays capturing granular gameplay metrics. This infrastructure must handle simultaneous workloads: storing high-resolution video files, processing social media translations in milliseconds, and maintaining the digital backbone for over 1,700 Wi-Fi access points serving tens of thousands of connected devices.
For the 49ers, NetApp’s solutions provide the high-performance storage layer essential to these operations. “High-performance storage is a critical part of our data operations,” said Costa Kladianos, Executive Vice President and Head of Technology at the 49ers. “NetApp powers the Intelligent Data Infrastructure we need to deliver a world-class fan experience.”
Global Reach Demands Enterprise-Grade Data Operations
The NFL’s international expansion adds complexity. The league hosted its first regular season game in Madrid in 2025, requiring data infrastructure that delivers consistent experiences across continents. “Data is a key component of reaching more people around the world with high quality interactions,” said Gary Brantley, Chief Information Officer at the NFL. “Intelligent Data Infrastructure powered by NetApp solutions enables us to deliver the same level of fan experience whether we’re playing in Silicon Valley or on another continent.”
This geographic distribution requires data mobility—the ability to replicate, synchronize, and distribute content across regions without latency penalties. When a fan in London streams a replay simultaneously with someone at Levi’s® Stadium, the underlying infrastructure must route data efficiently while maintaining identical quality standards.
Why Data Infrastructure Matters Beyond Game Day
NetApp’s role at Super Bowl LX demonstrates how modern enterprises—even those in traditionally physical industries—depend on intelligent data operations. The same principles apply across B2B sectors: data isn’t static, performance depends on movement and accessibility, and infrastructure must scale to handle unpredictable demand spikes while maintaining reliability. For organizations evaluating their own data strategies, the Super Bowl offers a visible case study in what enterprise-grade infrastructure enables at scale.
About NetApp
For more than three decades, NetApp has helped the world’s leading organizations navigate change – from the rise of enterprise storage to the intelligent era defined by data and AI. Today, NetApp is the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, helping customers turn data into a catalyst for innovation, resilience, and growth.
At the heart of that infrastructure is the NetApp data platform – the unified, enterprise-grade, intelligent foundation that connects, protects, and activates data across every cloud, workload, and environment. Built on the proven power of NetApp ONTAP, our leading data management software and OS, and enhanced by automation through the AI Data Engine and AFX, it delivers observability, resilience, and intelligence at scale.
Disaggregated by design, the NetApp data platform separates storage, services, and control so enterprises can modernize faster, scale efficiently, and innovate without lock-in. As the only enterprise storage platform natively embedded in the world’s largest clouds, it gives organizations the freedom to run any workload anywhere with consistent performance, governance, and protection.
With NetApp, data is always ready – ready to defend against threats, ready to power AI, and ready to drive the next breakthrough. That’s why the world’s most forward-thinking enterprises trust NetApp to turn intelligence into advantage.
