The Giants' use of technology on so many fronts has established them as a standard among Major League Baseball franchises, says Al DeBord, technology coordinator for the St. Louis Cardinals. DeBord is up to his eyeballs in IT initiatives as the club prepares to open its new stadium for the 2006 season. He's hoping to have a wireless network that extends to all of the ballpark after seeing the impact it's having at SBC. And he's also considering pursuing a ticket-distribution model similar to the Giants' arrangement with Tickets.com, which he says is influencing how ticketing is handled by many other teams. The Cardinals currently run their ticket system internally on an AS/400 mainframe, and DeBord says that any new system--whether internal or outsourced--will have to be in place before the 2005 seasons so it can run for a year before being used at the new stadium. It's that time crunch that has made the Giants' model look especially attractive. Adds DeBord, "The advantages of going with the outside vendor is that you gain two years of development overnight."
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