A massive investment by Verizon into infrastructure at the stadium where the US National Football League’s (NFL) latest Super Bowl was held looked to have paid off in the form of greater network traffic.

The operator reported 60 per cent of attendees at the SoFi Stadium in California accessed its network during the match on 13 February compared with 56 per cent during the 2020 Super Bowl in Miami.

Verizon poured $119 million into its network around the SoFi Stadium, while AT&T beefed up its fibre coverage.

As part of its investment, Verizon added 169 small cells, four macro cell sites and 24 in-building systems.

Verizon is the NFL’s official 5G partner after inking a ten-year deal in September 2021. It reported peak data rates of 3.89Gb/s in the stadium during the game for its subscribers.

On the day of the event, Verizon subscribers used 30.4TB of data in and around the stadium, compared with 25.3TB at the 2020 event.

The biggest spikes in network usage in the latest running occurred at the kick-off and during the halftime entertainment show. Verizon explained streaming accounted for the bulk of usage at the start of the match, with social media tipping the balance at the mid-point.

Like-for-like comparisons with the 2021 event look to have been rendered largely meaningless by Covid-19 (coronavirus) restrictions on in-person attendance.