LOS ANGELES — Since Orlando City SC transitioned to using exclusively paperless tickets for its new stadium, ticket fraud that exists with printed tickets has been entirely eradicated, according to team and Ticketmaster officials.
Through a ticketing software built by Ticketmaster, Presence, Orlando City SC fans are able to simply tap their smart phones or smart watches onto a token reader and gain access using digital passes into Orlando City Stadium — the first stadium in the country to implement this system in its entirety.
Because fans are unable to duplicate printed copies of their tickets at home — and because basic information about a ticket holder, such as first name, last name, phone number and email address are stored in a database — there has been zero fraud through the first 10 home games at Orlando City Stadium.
While these security measures benefit fans and team alike, there are understandably those who are wary of having their personal information stewing in a database. To account for that, Orlando City SC provides an option to grab an RFID-enabled “smart ticket” at will call, where providing email and other personal information isn’t necessary.
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Orlando City SC was driven to make the move to paperless tickets partly because its fan base skews younger and partly because of an internal pressure to be technologically innovative.
“We have a very tech-savvy fan base,” Orlando City SC chief revenue officer Chris Gallagher said. “The expectations are high. We needed to have a mobile solution that we felt comfortable in promoting to that type of fan base and we knew that if we went into the new stadium without something like that, the questions were going to come.”
Though Orlando City Stadium is the only stadium to have this “tap and go” system in full operation, it is in partial production in 31 other venues across North America. Expect that number to be far, far higher by this time next year.
“By the end of the year, Presence will be in venues that represent the top 20 sports teams across all leagues and in 80 of the most marquee venues in our ecosystem,” Ticketmaster EVP Justin Burleigh said.