Our weekly tech round-up from the world of ticketing and associated industries…
NFTs
Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama is run by the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority, and alongside financial company Protective Life Corp. is offering residents the chance to gain free entry for a year.
Through an auction that will benefit community coalition Prosper, patrons will be able to bid for a chance to win a non-fungible token (NFT) which is a digital rendering of the new stadium. Alongside the NFT, they will also win two free tickets to every event at Protective Stadium, which includes University of Alabama at Birmingham football games, The World Games, Birmingham Legion, United States Football League and more.
Cultural digital ticketing
Guru Experience Co, which offers cultural institutions a grow-as-you-go mobile app platform, has expanded its services with digital ticketing and a new membership portal. Clients will be able to use Guru’s Dynamic+ package and can control programs, visitor management and creation of dynamic tickets.
With the addition of digital ticketing and the membership portal, it means that cultural institutions such as museums and galleries can work with a single provider across their digital experience strategy. Clients will be able to manage their offerings through a single platform, with the system being able to suit individual needs including free, timed and event ticketing, membership level purchases and digital membership cards.
The new system will also be accompanied by a staff ticket scanning app with a portal to view live tour rosters and search and redeem queries for tickets or members.
FC Barcelona and the metaverse
Spanish La Liga side FC Barcelona has recently revealed plans to become immersed in the metaverse and the world of NFTs. Club president Joan Laporta said in his Mobile World Live 2022 keynote speech that Barca would look into building its own metaverse and offer NFTs as a way to attract new supporters and provide an opportunity for growth.
During his speech, Laporta said: “We are innovative in the use and adaptation of technologies and we will continue to be so. In recent times there has been a lot of attention to blockchain products and services such as NFTs and metaverse…we should be able to offer digital products to our members and fans that will align with the value of the club and generate a very interesting, emotional experience.”
Tennis and digital ticketing
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), which is the governing body of tennis in Great Britain, was forced to move towards a mobile-first approach to ticketing following the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally, it had planned to start the switch to digital ticketing this year, but when it ran the Cinch Championships, Queen’s Club in 2021, the event was allowed a reduced capacity of 25%.
To make it as safe as possible for attendees, the LTA had to switch to digital ticketing very quickly. It utilised mobile ticketing solution TixNGo from SecuTix to make the swap and an LTA branded app was created, called LTA Tix. It had branded Cinch Championships digital tickets in its secure mobile wallet. Some 98% of tickets were delivered digitally including tickets to Queen’s Club members and tournament sponsors.
The LTA aims to be 100% digital across all its events in the future.
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Background image: Ales Nesetril on Unsplash