The Philadelphia Phillies, of Major League Baseball, are piloting a new ticketless stadium entry system that uses facial recognition technology, according to an MLB press release. The pilot launched on Aug. 21, with plans to expand to other ballparks next year. The hope is that biometric technology can lead to faster and more efficient entry into stadiums, reducing queues and wait times.
Fans can now enroll in the “Go-Ahead Entry” pilot program through the MLB Ballpark app by simply submitting a selfie. This image is used as an identifier at the stadium, and patrons can then bypass the conventional ticket-taking process. This means no more fumbling for paper tickets or even scanning QR codes on smartphones when patrons enter the stadium. Instead, fans can breeze through dedicated lanes, speeding up the entry process and enhancing the overall convenience of getting into the stadium.
The piloting of MLB’s house biometrics software comes in the wake of other trials. The New York Mets have already implemented facial recognition for stadium entry, partnering with Wicket to provide the service. Additionally, Clear is used for biometric entry to baseball games in Cleveland and various other locations.
The adoption of biometrics in the sports arena further normalizes its use and can potentially expand to other features within the ballpark experience. According to Christopher Miller, Head of Emerging Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research, in the future there could be benefits in preserving this identity token for the duration of a visit to a park. The token could enable fans to make purchases while at the park.
“Taking MLB at their word that this system will only store user data temporarily and the selfies will be deleted, there’s still the potential for a scenario where users create a digital identity within the MLB Ballpark app,” Miller said. “In such a scenario, the MLB Ballpark app could serve as their digital wallet and payment method for the duration of a game, or perhaps in the future any time they were interacting with Major League Baseball.”
That concept would compete with services, like Clear, that enable customers to create digital identities usable in all sorts of scenarios, from airports (going through TSA) to stadiums.
“What’s noteworthy about the launch of this type of authentication is that it creates different stakeholders or participants in an identity space that ultimately could become players in the payment space,” Miller said. “In the same way that your phone, which has nothing to do with payments, becomes a payment device, your face could become a payments device, too. Now different participants in the ecosystem have the ability to be your preferred facial payment provider. And that doesn’t have to be, and in fact in the MLB scenario isn’t, delivered through your mobile device.”
If MLB were to have enough success with a biometrics/ID solution, it could be offered not just to other baseball teams but also to other industries. This kind of transition is akin to what Amazon did with its store biometric payments technology. It was initially created for Amazon’s use in-house, then was offered to other businesses.
“The key question is how this service will reach consumers,” Miller said. “Will it be offered by standalone providers like Clear, essentially saying, ‘Hey, we provide ID services’? Or will it be integrated into specific industries, such as MLB or airlines, who might say, ‘You’re doing business with us, and we’ve incorporated this into our operations’? These choices have significant downstream implications.”
