In Focus: Axess - SAP Garden: The Ultimate Year-Round Hub For Pro & Amateur Sports
The SAP Garden in Munich’s Olympic Park is one of Germany’s most modern multi-functional arenas, serving as a landmark for top sports and public sporting events. Since its opening in 2024, it has become a key part of the city’s sports scene, renowned for its unique architecture and versatile uses.
Where professional and amateur sports thrive together
The SAP Garden is more than just a modern sports arena; it’s a versatile venue that serves as the home for both elite and amateur sports. As the new home of the EHC Red Bull Munich hockey team and the FC Bayern Munich basketball stars, the arena boasts a capacity of up to 11,500 spectators, ranking among the most impressive arenas in Germany. With its innovative, flexible seating system, the SAP Garden can adjust its capacity depending on the event, ensuring it provides the perfect atmosphere for everything from thrilling hockey and basketball games to other major events. But the SAP Garden isn’t just for professional athletes – it’s also a paradise for amateur sports.
Featuring three separate ice rinks, the arena offers ample space not only for professional sports but also for recreational ice skating, making it accessible to the public. One notable feature is the arena’s dedicated ice times for public schools in Munich, where students can enjoy ice sports as part of their physical education classes. Other offerings for the general public include ice disco, ice dancing & figure skating for adults, racket skating and inclusive ice skating. The arena takes pride in fostering inclusivity, ensuring that everyone can stay active and have fun.
Revolutionising ticketing and access management
From the outset, SAP Garden has prioritised advanced technological solutions to ensure smooth operations and an enhanced guest experience. Axess has equipped the venue with state-of-the-art Axess SMART TERMINAL 600 with glass flaps, seamlessly integrated with innovative ticketing systems like SAP Ticketing, Ticketmaster and others.
This robust solution minimises ticket fraud while offering fans a secure and effortless entry process. The high-performance access gates not only enhance security but also streamline operations, allowing for a significant reduction in queue times.
Oliver Wesp, Managing Director, said: “For SAP Garden, it was essential to have an access system that is reliable, efficient, and built for long-term success. Axess provided the perfect solution with their innovative technology and seamless integration with our ticketing systems. Their expertise and support throughout the project ensured a smooth implementation, allowing us to offer visitors a secure and effortless entry experience.”
Enhancing the guest experience
The Axess SMART TERMINAL 600 flap gates provide automated entry, reducing the need for extensive staffing at gates. This allows staff to focus on delivering personalised guest services, such as meet-and-greet roles or guiding fans to their seats. Access to the training halls is handled with the AX500 Smart Gate NG. Visitors can easily redeem their ticket using a QR code or the NFC reader. In addition to Axess HANDHELD, the AX500 Smart Post NG systems are the mobile solution for on-site ticket control, as they are particularly flexible to use. As with many Axess products, the devices are characterised by their modular design: mounting type, antenna or reader can be chosen according to preferences.
The guest experience is completed when it comes to parking: Entry and exit to the underground car park is managed by barriers from Axess PARKING. With an opening time of 1.3 seconds, they are also able to cope with a large number of visitors and enable prompt processing.
High utilisation, efficient access
In conclusion, the SAP Garden stands out for its versatility, offering up to 120 event days for ice hockey and basketball to recreational sports. This diverse range of uses ensures high utilisation and efficient resource management.
Axess AG is proud to support this state-of-the-art venue with its efficient access control systems, helping to streamline operations and enhance the overall event experience.
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Images: wildbild, Herbert Rohrer – Axess AG
