Leave your wallet at home. The days of lugging around a pocket full of plastic cards are nearly over. With the recent introduction of Apple Pay, Major League Baseball is now the first professional sport to integrate this highly anticipated technology. While our friends in Japan have been embracing mobile payment services, its popularity has been lacking in the United States. MasterCard is looking to change this.
As the preferred card of Major League Baseball since 1997, MasterCard is building upon their current official sponsorships of the MLB, MLB.com, and the World Series. In a new campaign called “Priceless Surprises”, MasterCard partners with recently retired pitcher Mariano Rivera as well as Hall of Famers George Brett and Tommy Lasorda. Commercials featuring these legendary players were premiered during World Series Game 1 and are being replayed throughout the series.
“We thank MasterCard for its great involvement in bringing another simple and secure mobile technology to baseball fans,” said Noah Garden, Executive Vice President of Revenue for MLBAM.
“Introducing this service underscores the importance of our on-going commitment to mobile innovations at Major League Baseball ballparks. Being able to build reliable, convenient and authentic technologies on their personal devices is no longer a nice-to-have option for fans. It’s central to their experiences.”
Because baseball is considered the national pastime of the United States, MasterCard expects this partner campaign with the MLB will speak to the heart of American’s, creating a significant increase in the popularity of mobile payment. Priceless Surprises incentivizes fans to use Apple Pay by offering the chance to randomly win tickets to the 2015 World Series, surprise seat upgrades within the ballpark, and other great prizes. In addition to MLB stadiums, over 220,000 retail stores across the country now offer this mobile payment option.
According to a 2014 study by the United States Federal Reserve, only 17 percent of mobile phone users report to have made a mobile payment in the past 12 months. This means there is tremendous room for growth of this tech in the United States. Expect sports partnerships similar to MasterCard and the MLB to facilitate the increase in popularity, and help make your wallet a thing of the past.