Monday, January 31, 2011

For it's "tech-savy fan base"


Jed York faces quite a task. As president of the San Francisco 49ers, the franchise his family owns, York has the challenge of coming up with a state-of-the-art stadium design for perhaps the world's most technologically discerning fan base — in the heart of the Silicon Valley.

Set aside for a moment the difficulty of actually getting a stadium constructed in California, and consider the approach of York, 29, who envisions a venue that satisfies the old-line fans and those from his plugged-in generation.

For that, he has to think outside the box … and inside the tablet, pad and hand-held device.

While heaping praise on Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his palatial new stadium — one that features a colossal high-definition video screen — York said that's not his vision for a 49ers stadium.

"Everything for us is micro, not macro," York said in a telephone interview. "In the Silicon Valley, we want to know: What you can do on your smartphone? Our approach is, why build a $50-million scoreboard as opposed to enabling 65,000 people to have scoreboards in their hands that are interactive?

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