Biometric ticketing will soon be launching at Fenway Park for Boston Red Sox games.
Fenway Sports Group is partnering with IdentoGO by Idemia, the company behind TSA Pre, to bring biometric ticketing to its teams. That will include the Red Sox and most likely the Premier League soccer club Liverpool FC, according to Charles Carroll, Idemia’s vice president of enrollment services.
The announcement, made at the San Francisco 49ers’ second-annual Innovation & Business Strategy conference, follows similar deals Idemia struck in the NFL, NBA and NHL. Idemia partnered with the 49ers and New York Jets in 2017. In February, it teamed up with Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment to bring fast lanes to Barclays Center where the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and NHL’s New York Islanders play.
Idemia is currently in talks with several other sports teams, including the New York Giants (which share Metlife Stadium with the Jets), and is expected to announce another four-team partnerships by the end of this year, according to Carroll.
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While full details have yet to be announced, Idemia’s previous deals offer some insight into what its partnership with Fenway Sports Group might look like. In each case, Idemia struck multi-year deals to provide expedited check-in services with biometrics, including fingerprint and iris scans or facial recognition. In each case, its partnerships have included plans to experiment with innovative new biometric-based security features. Its NFL deals have also included plans to experiment with ways to incorporate biometrics into concessions and rewards programs.
SportTechie Takeaway
Idemia’s expansion from airport security into sports is not only about improving safety and making the check-in process more efficient as thousands of fans descend upon venues. It’s also a major data play.
With teams constantly on the hunt for data and analytics to power their businesses and drive revenue, Idemia offers them access to a trove of data about fans. A large-scale expansion of biometric services deployed throughout stadiums would provide teams with a snapshot of not only the types of people who are coming to their games but also how they’re spending money inside.
Idemia isn’t the only kid on the block. CLEAR offers similar services and has a larger footprint in MLB. It has 11 team partnerships in total, which include MLB’s Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, NY Mets, Colorado Rockies, Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants, Detroit Tigers’ Comerica Park, and a few other NBA and Major League Soccer teams.
CLEAR is also currently working with lawmakers in Washington State to digitize IDs for potential contactless in-stadium alcohol ordering.
All of these services offer insight into a future in-person game experience that wouldn’t require plastic identification and credit cards, or paper tickets.
“It’s going to be a complete paperless experience,” Carroll said. “The technology is already there, it just needs to be integrated.”
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