Through the assistance of FIS, a global leader in financial technology, Bob Legters wants Minor League Baseball fans to have an “Uber-like experience” starting this season. Earlier this week, FIS and MiLB announced a partnership that named the financial enterprise the Official Provider of Payment and Loyalty Solutions to Minor League Baseball.
Legters, who is the Chief Product Officer for Global Retail Payments at FIS, explained to that with the new relationship with MiLB, the company will have an opportunity to sell its payment, loyalty and back-end support solutions to 160 MiLB organizations. The solutions will fall into three buckets: ballpark operations, merchant services and loyalty and rewards.
The Uber reference from Legters corresponds to how FIS will help not only expedite payment from fans for food, beverage and merchandise but also provide them opportunities to make purchases using their smartphones at participating venues. Additionally, ordering from one’s seat through a team/ballpark app and having food delivered or picked-up is also an integration that will be rolled out with the new partnership.
“It’s all about convenience, and that’s the experience we’re going for,” Legters said. “If you think about the convenience of an Uber transaction in comparison to a taxi transaction, that’s what we’re looking for — the Uber-like experience at the ballpark.
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“The communications in the (point-of-sale) is something we’ve developed. The POS processing and its connection to the merchant processing is something we’ve developed. The ability to track the consumer from a loyalty perspective and be able to reward fans based on all of the tracking technology and data collected. We don’t want to step in front of the park in regards to the communication to the consumer. Everything we do — we collect the data, process the transaction, make sure everything is security-oriented to protect the data and then we share that back with the park. The park then can figure out how to interact with the consumer.”
David Wright, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer of Minor League Baseball, said core to this partnership is the “Ballpark of the Future” mantra, the notion of incorporating technology to improve fans’ experience in every MiLB venue. By the 2026, MiLB hopes to have 50 million fans come through the turnstiles, and in order to achieve that benchmark, Wright said it will be centered around technology and innovation.
“Technology will play a big part in that along with fan experience,” said Wright, who added that roughly 42 million fans come through MiLB venues annually. “It fits squarely in line with FIS and their industry leading products and services.
“How do we position FIS to provide products and services across as many ballparks as possible to enhance the consumer experience and tie it all together to the same platform? I think that will be core, and you’ll see a lot of clubs buying in and participating in that program. Secondarily to that, they’re going to power the back end of our first ever over-arching national loyalty program.”
Wright added that a strategic pillar of MiLB overall is “being tech-forward and being a trendsetter in the technology space.” Since coming on board nearly 15 months ago, it has been a point of emphasis for Wright and his senior leadership team as they continue to grow the league’s fan base.
“We can do things that other sports and properties can’t. We need to own that and seize that opportunity,” he said. “The opportunity with FIS, albeit timely, coincided with our priorities moving forward.”
On the business and baseball operations side, FIS will also assist MiLB organizations in streamlining the handling of team travel, providing real-time payments for team employees and also finding better ways to track employee expenses.