Season ticket holders of Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls were informed recently that rather than a strip of tickets for the upcoming season, they will receive a plastic ID card to be scanned as they enter the club’s new stadium.
The system, which is already used by prominent soccer clubs in England, allows ticket holders to more easily enter the stadium. It also allows them to load money onto an account that is linked to the plastic ID card to make purchases throughout the stadium.
"From the Red Bulls’ point of view, this is the future of sport in North America," Erik Stover, the club’s managing director, told the New York Times. "In five to 10 years very few teams won’t be using this system. If you look at it from the customer’s point of view, there’s a lot of convenience."
The club believes that the technology will achieve three primary goals: improving traffic flow and shortening lines throughout the stadium, minimizing security risks and improving the overall customer experience.
As the MLS has become more popular in the U.S., clubs have tried several methods of making the stadium experience more pleasurable. Their success is evident by the number of season ticket holders they’ve acquired – the Red Bulls now have nearly 7,000 compared to just over 3,000 two years ago.
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