The Philadelphia Phillies are continuing to use a trial deployment of facial-authentication technology for ticket verification at Citizens Bank Park as the team progresses through the playoffs, according to Major League Baseball.
The system, deployed by MLB at the stadium in August this year, requires fans to pre-register by uploading a selfie through MLB’s Ballpark app. The system then couples a digital token of fans’ faces with their ticketing information. Once arriving at the park, registered fans simply walk by a camera kiosk in one of the two “Go Ahead Entry” lanes. There, according to MLB the camera will “recognize any opted-in fan as a registered member as they walk in – either alone or with their group – automatically scanning tickets once identified.”
Like other stadiums that have been using facial authentication systems for ticketing, including the Cleveland Browns and the Atlanta Falcons, MLB has paired its ticketing solution with walk-through security scanning technology from Evolv, which does not require fans to stop or divest any items during screening. According to Karri Zaremba, Major League Baseball’s senior vice president of product, the “Go Ahead Entry” trial is aimed at providing “a more personal and welcoming way to enter the ballpark. It really feels like a VIP experience.”
The trial at Citizens Bank Park started with just one gate but was expanded to two before the end of the regular season. Early in the process MLB said that more than 7,000 fans had signed up for the system. While an MLB spokesperson said that number has since increased, no updated stats were provided.
MLB also declined to identify any of the technology vendors involved in the facial-authentication system on either the software or hardware side. Unlike other stadium ticketing deployments that use software from Wicket, a facial-authentication startup, the MLB solution does not require fans to look directly into the camera screen. According to Wicket, its software is not part of the MLB system.
Zaremba declined to provide any future thoughts on the system, such as whether it would be offered to more ballparks or if it would be offered at a discount to MLB teams, like MLB has done in the past with wireless technology. “We’re just going to evaluate it in the offseason,” Zaremba said. “So far the early reactions from fans have been overwhelmingly positive.”
