Whether its virtual meetings, coaches submitting their game-day rosters, game production, or even this article, everything at OSEG uses some kind of technology along the way, and that’s where Pete Chamberlin, Director of IT comes into play.

Celebrating his 10th anniversary with OSEG, Chamberlin is responsible for all things technology.

Keeping things running smoothly from a technical side is critical for the fans in the stands. They may not realize it, but so much of what makes going to an event at TD Place special is touched by Chamberlin’s crew.

“So much of our technology, whether it’s your free Wi-Fi or your security cameras, even the fact that you can go up to a concession and buy a beer, that’s all happening on our IT core network. If it just all works, then I’ve done my job extremely well” Chamberlin said.

It doesn’t end there, however. Every employee has their own laptop and other tech that occasionally has issues, and their first call is always to Chamberlin’s team.

“Corporate AV falls under me and my team,” Chamberlin said. “That’s the TVs that are in the meeting rooms, the teams’ conferencing units, and any other corporate needs.”

Of course, like every single other employee at the company, event days are the busiest. In the process of putting a show together, IT plays an important role.

“On event days, we deal with the functioning of the various AV systems around the stadium,” Chamberlin said. “That’s our audio system, for example, all the video boards, the main stadium scoreboard, and the field LED board. My team is responsible for making sure they’re functional so that our production team can come in and put on the show.”

“We have over 400 TVs here. We’re quite proud that we can put on any event, whether it’s REDBLACKS, the Panda Game between UOttawa and Carleton, or anything else. We’ll have all those TVs working, showing the correct content, making sure everything’s functioning.”

“We have a help desk system we use across both IT and AV, so any service request goes in there with a ticket,” Chamberlin said. “If someone’s laptop isn’t working, they can send an email to IT support. It’s really the same for game day. If someone notices ‘Hey, there’s a crack in a TV where the video board is,’ or ‘We’ve got some outages,’ they can report it that way.”

Among his favourite moments working at OSEG is, of course, the REDBLACKS winning a Grey Cup in 2016, for which he received a ring. Funny enough, Chamberlin believes that he really earned that ring in 2017, when Ottawa hosted the Grey Cup.

Those events always come with a heavy workload, with everyone being hyper-vigilant about any issues, looking to correct them before anyone can even notice.

“I’d say where it stands out the most is when we get the one-off larger events, like the BKT Tires World Men’s Curling Championship or Canadian Tire National Skating Championships, or when we hosted the Grey Cup,” Chamberlin said. “That’s a big sense of pride having pulled that off, and we did it quite well.”

Having been working in IT most of his career, Chamberlin is now helping dictate the future of sports and entertainment in Ottawa, chipping in with the Lansdowne 2.0 project.

“While I was involved in 2014 with the building, a lot of the planning had already been done,” Chamberlin said. “This time with Lansdowne 2.0, we’re involved now in the planning stages. I’m looking forward to creating a lasting impact.”