Another NFL team is testing out the use of facial authentication technology to speed up stadium entry, with the Tennessee Titans’ launch of a system from Verizon and software startup Wicket this football season at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
Called “Express Entry,” the system is being used in conjunction with walk-through security scanners from Evolv, to produce an experience where fans can enter the stadium at a walking pace. According to the Titans, fans enroll by taking a selfie and matching it with their ticketing account in the SeatGeek app.
Like systems in place at Cleveland Browns Stadium and at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, fans must pre-enroll in the program to pair their identities with their ticket purchases. Once enrolled, fans enter the stadium by showing their face to a tablet, which confirms the tickets in the fan’s account. One benefit of the facial-authentication systems is that multiple people can enter the stadium based on one face scan if all the tickets are under the same account.
According to the Cleveland Browns, use of the Wicket system for entry ticketing has resulted in big cost savings on the stadium-operations side of the equation. The stadium solution is part of Verizon’s 5G Edge Accelerated Access program, where systems like the stadium entry operation use Verizon 5G connectivity for fast, secure network access.
