Atomic Data announced Monday it’s acquiring Venue Wireless, a tiny, Texas-based IT company that specializes in sports and entertainment venues.

That’s because Atomic, the Minneapolis-based IT services firm, wants to answer growing demand for tech support at large venues. “There’s a certain level of skillset that you need to help a company run really solid IT,” CEO Chris Heim tells TCB, noting the company serves hundreds of businesses. “But when you think about a stadium—it’s that plus.” The acquisition brings in technical aptitude for scaling up, he says, enhancing company solutions for connectivity, security, and automation in a stadium-size format.

“By combining Atomic Data’s industry-leading IT services with our deep experience in sports and entertainment venues, we can offer clients a true end-to-end solution at scale,” says Scott Jeffcoat, managing partner of Venue Wireless, in a press release.

Several of Atomic’s local clients operate in this space, including Allianz Field, Canterbury Park, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. And tens of thousands of attendees strain their networks, Heim says, as they whip out their smartphones to record videos and post on social media.

Think of fans at a stadium like St. Paul’s Allianz Field: “You’ve got 20,000 people that all want to be on Wi-Fi or all want to have cellular connection,” he says. In-stadium vendors use the same network. “The entire backbone of a stadium is interconnected—all the points of sale are either hardwired into the stadium’s network infrastructure, or they’re connected wirelessly through cellular connections.”

It’s not as though these systems consistently glitch out, he notes. But large-venue failures are more pronounced. “In corporate America, if something goes down, you might have 15 to 30 minutes to get the right people assembled and fix it. But if you’ve got some part of your network that goes down an hour before the game, you’ve got five minutes to fix it.”

Sports and entertainment venues make money off relatively few events per year. That puts extra pressure on attendee experience.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the market for “smart” stadiums is expected to more than double over the next five years, according to a 2024 report from market research firm MarketsandMarkets, as cited by Atomic Data.

To explain, Heim points to a national phenomenon of stadium rebuilds. “You think about any of the major cities in any of the major sports—there are always new stadiums being built.”

Atomic’s national clients include Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium and Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center arena, where a project is underway. The Venue Wireless acquisition brings Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, into the portfolio.

More and more, architects are sitting down with tech professionals, Heim says, to discuss the fan-facing side of tech infrastructure. “We call it ‘large-venue IT.’ It’s not just about sports stadiums.” Office complexes, hotels, and airports also count. “It’s the ‘everything connected’ world. HVAC systems are ‘smart’ now.”

Venue Wireless, based in the Dallas area, is changing its name to Atomic Data, Heim says. The company employs a small fraction of Atomic’s 200-person workforce.

Heim says the acquisition began to form about five months ago, when an Atomic Data employee connected with a former colleague now working at Venue Wireless. The two saw potential together.

Venue Wireless is Atomic’s first acquisition since a Florida-based private-equity firm bought majority ownership of the company in September 2024. Atomic Data co-founder and former CEO Jim Wolford had died suddenly in 2023, at age 55. He had launched the company in 2001. Private-equity firm Dubin Clark became primary owner, hiring Heim as CEO.

Dubin Clark has been “very supportive,” Heim says, expressing relief, as some private-equity stories end badly. “They’re breathing life into helping us look for more acquisitions like this.”