The Modern Locker Room: How Universities are Enhancing the Athlete Experience (and Beyond)

For many universities, the athletics program represents a prime source of revenue. To take advantage of this, they must be able to attract the best student athletes, along with their supporters. This has driven them to build out high-end athletics complexes designed to deliver top-tier experiences to not just the athletes, but also to their fellow students, friends, family, and sports fans.

As the war room of the sports world, the locker room is where athletes, coaches, and trainers gather to analyze past performance, strategize for the future, and of course, prepare for game day. Many will recall the collegiate locker room of yore as a dingy, dusty den of stinky socks and sweaty uniforms—but this is a thing of the past.

Today’s modern locker rooms are evolving into more luxurious accommodations that aim to address the needs and comfort of their occupants. To build team spirit, their bespoke designs showcase team branding, culture, core values, and history. For player well-being, they include things like ventilated lockers and moisture-resistant materials. And, their integrated tech tools help coaches and teams devise the tactics that will make them win. 

Digital signage is contributing to this VIP experience in a number of ways. As a central source of communications, it’s being used to:

• View, study, and analyze past plays
• Communicate strategies
• Deliver live updates on game day
• Showcase and celebrate the achievements of individual athletes and the entire team
• Display game and practice schedules, directories, and other key info
• Greet visiting teams with welcome messaging and digital name plates
• Highlight outstanding achievements on a digital wall of fame

All of this is transforming the modern locker room into a hub of team building and motivation—a welcoming workplace that serves as a competitive advantage for universities; and for their athletes, helps to cultivate and nurture the winner’s mindset.

Colleges that use one set of locker rooms for multiple teams can leverage digital signage to deliver personalized, branded communications targeted at who will be using the space at any given time. For example, on Friday night the content may be football-focused, while on Sunday morning it may be all about soccer. This gives all student athletes the same VIP experience, and sends the message that they are respected as the pros that many of them will become in the not-so-distant future.

Outside of the locker room, colleges and universities are using digital signage to extend the fan experience beyond the game itself. For Michigan State University’s Frances Cleaves Family Center, Carousel Digital Signage collaborated with Red Dot Digital Media and BrightSign to create an interactive experience for friends and family of the Spartan basketball team. Dubbed the “Wall of Fame,” two 75-inch Newline touch displays let visitors access information on past and present Spartans. At the University of Massachusetts Football Performance Center, home of the Minutemen, a Carousel Digital Signage-powered interactive kiosk allows fans to look up player and coach bios, statistics, major player and team accomplishments—and even trivia on the bands and mascots that have supported the Minutemen throughout their history.

As universities continue to enhance the experience they offer to both athletes and fans, they’re increasingly relying on digital signage. With Carousel, these institutions can easily develop and distribute dynamic, branded, and targeted messaging for everyone who participates in collegiate sports activities. When done right, this helps to foster a winner’s mindset among everyone—and who doesn’t want to think like a winner?

Author: Carolyn Heinze

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