Seamless service: How Midco ensures fans, players stay connected during Sanford International

This paid piece is sponsored by Midco.

The Sanford International is almost ready for its first players to tee off, but a team of a different sort already has been navigating the course for weeks.

Leading up to the event, Midco’s team of engineers and field technicians transform Minnehaha Country Club into a hyper-connected hub of data and video services – ensuring everyone involved in the tournament, including fans, enjoys fast, reliable internet and television services.

“We love it,” said Sean Erkonen, Midco wireless network engineering manager.

“We do about 25 events of varying sizes each year, and we take a lot of pride in making sure we’re meeting the needs of each event. This is by far the largest.”

It’s also a critical component of a successful event, tournament director Davis Trosin said.

“When I think of Midco’s involvement in the Sanford International, the first thought that comes to mind is all-encompassing,” he said.

“Midco’s operational team provides a best-in-class service, and they couldn’t be easier to work with. Their crew is made up of a lot of the same individuals each year and requires very little oversight from our team, which is much appreciated when we build our little city out at Minnehaha Country Club. We are lucky to have Midco as a partner and are proud of the work we accomplish together.”

With thousands of people coming to the tournament, which runs today through Sunday, “cell service could be spotty as everyone is fighting for access to the same wireless cell towers,” Trosin said.

“However, that is not the case at our event because of Midco’s service capabilities.”

The tournament brings in a Verizon Cell-On-Wheels, or COW, which is a mobile cell site that provides short-term wireless coverage during the event. Midco provides fiber cables to the COW, which ultimately boosts cell coverage for everyone in attendance.

“General spectators can also connect to Midco’s public Wi-Fi throughout the golf course without using their own cellular data. Each of our hospitality venues has its own Midco wireless internet network, which is very useful,” Trosin said.

“More and more, our partners use their hospitality venues for different events during the week like board meetings, trainings and partner luncheons. Because of Midco’s strong network connection, our partners can set up videoconferences and presentations that allow these meetings to take place seamlessly.”

Installation starts up to two weeks before the tournament and includes a team of field techs who lay 6,600 feet of cable across the golf course to support the infrastructure.

“It supports all our data services,” Erkonen said. “It’s laid underneath all the corporate chalets and viewing areas, and then we have a Wi-Fi team responsible for all access points, and we’re on-site throughout the entire tournament to ensure everything runs smoothly.”

Midco even handles in-house cabling at the clubhouse, implementing a temporary network to support players, media and tournament officials – including phone service.

“We always receive high remarks from the PGA TOUR’s media official about the strength of the network,” Trosin said. “In fact, during our pre-tournament media operations call, the TOUR indicated that the Wi-Fi speeds were the fastest they saw the entire year on TOUR at 213 Mbps! This is critical for our media partners. As soon as interviews take place or content is produced, it can be transcribed and broadcasted in real time out to the masses.”

Midco also provides video service to 80 televisions throughout the tournament – from the clubhouse to the chalets and areas open to general spectators.

“We get a feed from the Golf Channel and provide that out to the course,” Erkonen said. “We can stream social media on the TVs, leaderboards and other content.”

PGA TOUR Entertainment, or PGATE, is responsible for producing the live TV broadcast and relaying that feed to Golf Channel to be shown.

“They typically have very specific needs, and Midco always exceeds their expectations with the service they provide,” Trosin said. “This year, PGATE requested an upgrade to their modems to have their own dedicated 1G service. Midco stepped up to the plate and was able to meet PGATE’s ever-changing needs that allow the Sanford International to reach over 77 million U.S. households and 150 countries across the globe.”

Within the tournament itself, the video services further enhance the fan experience, Trosin said.

This year during the tournament weekend , the Solheim Cup and the PGA TOUR’s Procore Championship also are taking place. Because of this, the Sanford International coverage is tape-delayed or available live via streaming on Peacock, PGATOUR.com or the NBC Sports app.

“However, Midco is able to get a private feed from Golf Channel and broadcast the coverage directly to our hospitality venues, tournament video boards and even the TVs inside Minnehaha Country Club,” Trosin said.

Midco makes two private channels available to show the live Golf Channel feed on one and feature the DriveSafeSD.com leaderboard on the other.

“Midco’s video services go a long way to recognize our partners and permit them to provide an unmatched hosting experience,” Trosin said. “These little details add up and directly contribute to our event’s continued success and maintain the status as the most fan-friendly event on the PGA TOUR Champions.”

This year, Midco also will step up data service to support the enhanced public viewing areas being created around the course.

“Every year, we work with the Sanford International team members as they make changes to the course, and as needs change, we adapt,” Erkonen said. “We’ve had numerous challenges – a tornado the first year, then the COVID years, and we’ve been able to provide our services through all that without any interruption.”

Supporting events “is something we really enjoy doing,” he continued. “We do it as a sponsorship at no cost to the event, and we do it as a way to support the communities we serve.”

In addition to the Sanford International, Midco teams deliver internet service to events and large-scale venues throughout its five-state region.

“While a lot of them are community festivals, we also support everything from an ice fishing tournament to a dog sled race up in northern Minnesota,” Erkonen said. “A lot of the communities we serve don’t have the cellular capacity for thousands of additional people, so we come in and provide the data services that allow these events to function.”

Midco also provides Wi-Fi at permanent venues such as Levitt at the Falls, the Midco Aquatics Center, the Midco Arena at Augustana University, the Foundation Plaza in downtown Watertown and the South Dakota State Fair in Huron.

“We also do a lot of outdoor sporting events, and we’re getting into more large outdoor concerts,” Erkonen said. “For a weekend event, it’s typically a one-day setup, while for larger events like the Sanford International, it can be a couple weeks. We do a lot of rapid deployment, although there are hours of planning and coordination happening behind the scenes.”

At the Sanford International, the continued partnership with a local provider makes a huge difference, Trosin said.

“We are very lucky to have Midco as a partner,” he said. “The Sanford International has a local feel that is not always the case with other PGA TOUR Champions events. We are truly powered by businesses in our community.”

To learn more about this year’s Sanford International, click here.

To learn more about how Midco can support your community’s event, click here.