Rogers Centre spends $8M on upgrades ahead of Taylor Swift shows

The stadium is expected to see record-breaking data usage during Swift’s six concerts in Toronto

Published Oct 17, 2024  •  2 minute read

Taylor Swift performs on stage during the "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at Wembley Stadium on August 15, 2024 in London, England. Photo by Kate Green /Getty Images

Rogers Centre is making sure it’s ready for the Swifties next month.

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The stadium has completed $8 million worth of 5G network upgrades ahead of Taylor Swift’s six sold-out Eras Tour shows from Nov. 14-16 and Nov. 21-23 that will provide three times more capacity – the equivalent to what would traditionally be covered by 33 towers in downtown Toronto.

Technical teams also lifted and installed antennas near the top of Rogers Centre’s 86-metre-high roof to bring fans with floor seats the same 5G network experience as those in stadium seats for the first time.

Rogers Centre says its network team spent 6,000 hours planning the upgrades and 10,000 hours installing equipment beginning in the summer.

“As the proud presenting sponsor of Taylor Swift/The Eras Tour, we’ve upgraded our 5G network to get ready for fans at Rogers Centre,” Mark Kennedy, chief technology officer, said in a statement.

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“Taylor fans use record amounts of data to livestream as well as share videos and photos from her shows, and this investment will ensure they have the best experience.”

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For example, fans on Rogers 5G network at the Pink concert at Rogers Centre in August saw download speeds twice as fast and upload speeds eight times faster than the Diljit Dosanjh performance in July, where 5.4 TB of data was used.

The stadium says like any other venues around the world, it expects record-breaking data usage during Swift’s six concerts in Toronto.

Rogers Centre has completed $8 million in 5G network upgrades in preparation for Taylor Swift’s 6 sold out shows at the venue in November. Photo by Rogers Centre

During one show at Wembley Stadium in London, Swifties consumed a record 5.58 terabytes (TB) of mobile data at the stadium – the equivalent of streaming her entire music catalog 4,500 times, which would take a decade.

And at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, AT&T’s network handled a staggering 28.9 TB of data during the busiest day of Swift’s three-day tour stop there.

By comparison, if fans shared 200,000 photos or 400 hours of video, that would only chew up 1 TB of data.

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