Brightbox stations allow fans to charge phones at Kelly/Shorts, McGuirk
Visitors at Kelly/Shorts Stadium no longer have to worry about their cellphones dying during football games.
Created by a company called Brightbox, Kelly/Shorts Stadium is now equipped with five phone charging stations each with six lockers filled with chargers compatible with iPhone, Android and other smart phones.
Located on the East, West and Suite Level Concourses, the charging stations are free to use. Users must either type in a pin or use a credit card as a key to access their locker.
The stations charge phones at up to 2.7 amps — twice as fast as any wireless charger, according to Bill Gridley, Brightbox CEO. Gridley said he has plugged in his iPhone 6 at zero percent and it was fully charged after 60 minutes.
“We only deliver an optimized, safe charge because a rapid charge could damage batteries,” Gridley said. “Typically, people charge for only 20-30 minutes so they can get back to watching the game.”
No data connection is made when the phone is plugged into the station. Personal information remains private and credit card information is also not recorded.
CMU is the only school in Michigan that has the charging stations and one-of-15 nation-wide. Frontier Communications sponsors the stations at Kelly/Shorts Stadium, making them free of cost to the university.
Three stations are expected to be installed inside McGuirk Arena.
"Our fans will benefit from day one with cellphone charging stations and Frontier will be a visible part of the games and events we put on moving forward," said CMU Director of Athletics Dave Heeke.
Gridley said the recent success of the CMU football team has him excited for the partnership.
“Partnering with a big school and Top-30 ranked (football team) like CMU is awesome,” Gridley said. “We also really look forward to being with the basketball team.”
Brightbox was created in 2012 by Adam Johnson, a bartender in New York City who had customers ask him to charge their phones behind the bar. Johnson sketched the design of the stations on a napkin and later had the prototype built. Brightbox is now in 22 states and nine countries with more than 800 units deployed.
The business-to-business company partnered with American Airlines and is in professional stadiums like American Airlines Arena, AT&T Stadium and Chase Field. The company, Gridley said, is in discussions with several more pro teams and universities. The charging stations were also in venues at the Rio Olympics.
Other notable places include the Statue of Liberty in New York City, the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta and Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Gridley said demand for the stations is "exploding." He said expects to send out thousands of units in the future.
“CMU is on the cutting edge of technology,” Gridley said. “We believe there will be as many charging stations as ATMs one day and ATMs will start to phase out as we use our smart phones more.”
