TAMPA, Fla. — Beginning Aug. 30, the Tampa Bay Rays will be rolling out some new technology aimed at getting fans into the stadium quicker.
It's called Go-Ahead Entry and it works using biometric data that essentially makes your face your ticket. The Rays are now the seventh MLB team to roll out the League’s Go Ahead Entry system.
“To make a quicker and hands-free ingress experience for fans,” Rays’ Chief Business Officer Bill Walsh said.
Users can sign up through the free MLB Ballpark app, snap a selfie, and then that biometric data is used to authenticate the ticket holder.
It’s estimated using the app increases the speed of getting through the line and to your seat by about 68%.
“This is the latest technological improvement, enhancement, in our long journey to make the fan experience here at Tropicana Field as frictionless and as convenient as possible,” Walsh said.
Fans we spoke with say while they like the convenience and added layer of security, but it also raises some privacy questions about the data being collected.
“Obviously, I think that the sharing of that data needs to be protected and secured,” Rays fan Robert King said. “As long as we can figure out those items then I personally don't have a problem with it.”
“My only concern with the biometrics is if the security system that they were using was hacked,” King’s wife Tammy said. “Then what else would they have access to using that data? With having your face.”
MLB says the Go-Ahead Entry system uses facial authentication, not facial recognition. So, it's just scanning the person entering, not the crowd.
They say it’s also not connected to any other database.
“The solution is secure. We do not store any images of fans in our system,” MLB’s Senior VP of Ticketing Karri Zaremba said. “The image is discarded right after it's taken, and a numeric token is what's stored on the device.”
Using Go Ahead Entry is completely voluntary.
The Rays say they have five of the system kiosks, so fans who want to try it will find them at just about any gate they choose to enter the stadium.
There’s also an added incentive.
The Rays are offering a special promotion. Fans who are willing to use the system during any of the next seven games will get two free tickets to a future game just for trying it out.