Digital Innovation and Artificial Intelligence at the MHP Arena

• VfB Stuttgart’s Bundesliga home game against SV Werder Bremen on April 13 shines the spotlight on innovation
• AI applications focus on sport, media products, performance, service, the fan experience, and arena opera-tions
• Joint projects with sponsors and partners make the MHP Arena Stuttgart one of the most modern venues in Europe

Ludwigsburg/Stuttgart –At the Bundesliga home game against SV Werder Bremen on April 13, 2025, the MHP Arena was a place filled with innovations – from virtual reality (VR) to artificial intelligence (AI). Companies and partners invited by VfB Stuttgart presented innovative use cases at the so-called “Innovation Matchday.” The aim of it all was to showcase the new innovation platform.

Alexander Wehrle, CEO of VfB Stuttgart, explained: “Artificial intelligence is a key technology of our time and is gaining a foothold in all areas of life, including sport and professional soccer. At VfB Stuttgart, we primarily want to embrace human-centered, applied AI solutions that are developed responsibly and sustainably. With this in mind, when it comes to innovation, our focus is on sport, on improving the fan experience and on our services, as well as on supporting educational work around artificial intelligence.” 

The MHP Arena Stuttgart is one of the most modern arenas in Europe

The management and IT consultancy MHP is also actively involved with its expertise, working on projects that are designed to improve the stadium experience for fans at the MHP Arena. One use case, for example, is focusing on optimizing the stadium kiosks. Particularly special here is the combination of data analyses – which will be processed and presented in a smart dashboard in the future – and the insights gained from live tests in the “real-world laboratory” in the Untertürkheimer Stand.
Marco Di Giacomo, a manager at MHP and experience designer on the project team, added: “The reciprocal relationship between qualitative and quantitative data thus becomes a source of inspiration and serves as a corrective for new innovative approaches.” The aim is also to enhance kiosk planning with weather, match, and kick-off data in the future so that smart forecasts can be made.

In addition, MHP used the Apple Vision Pro to give guests exclusive insights into current use cases in the field of extended reality (XR) – in cooperation with VfB Stuttgart and Porsche AG, among others. With the aid of Innoactive’s XR streaming platform, complex 3D models can be transferred without loss from NVIDIA Omniverse to XR devices such as the Apple Vision Pro, giving visitors the opportunity to view a photorealistic model of a Porsche 911 for themselves and test the extensive AI voice control. Jörg Dietrich, partner at MHP: “The Apple Vision Pro opens up completely new dimensions for immersive experiences – in the world of sport, in the automotive or production sector, and far beyond. It enables us to bring complex content to life in an intuitive manner, allowing us not only to think about innovations, but also give them a visible and tangible form.” 

A special immersive experience as part of “Innovation Matchday” at the MHP Arena was the 360-degree live broadcast of a Bundesliga match on head-mounted displays. VfB Stuttgart organized this trial – the first of its kind at a Bundesliga match – in conjunction with the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga. People were able to choose between four different camera angles on Apple Vision Pro VR headsets supplied by MHP. Using the special 360-degree cameras set up in the stadium by the company Softseed, they could enjoy the view from the halfway line, for example, or turn their heads and see the bench and technical area up close. With sufficient bandwidth, this content could be transmitted directly into fans’ living rooms in the future via fiber-optic connections.