Our weekly tech round-up from the world of ticketing and associated industries…
MLB NFT ticket
Baseball fans will be offered commemorative NFT tickets for games throughout the upcoming Major League Baseball season, which starts this week.
The tokens, created through a partnership between MLB and Candy Digital, are a digital keepsake rather than a ticket to enter the game. They will feature video of a memorable play from the game, the ticket-holder’s seat number and advertising.
“As tickets have become more and more a digital product opposed to a physical product that fans have, fans have lost that ability to collect a ticket stub as a memory of the game they attended or a memorable event that happened in a game,” Kenny Gersh, MLB’s executive vice-president of business development told reporters. “We’re now offering a series of NFTs to represent those tickets.”
Facial recognition
Osasuna will this weekend become the first club in LaLiga to allow access to its stadium through facial recognition.
The technology, deployed by club partner dasGate, is designed to facilitate faster, more comfortable and safer access to El Sadar.
The club’s plan contemplates a phased development so that at all the gates of the El Sadar stadium there is at least one turnstile that allows access through facial recognition.
The club said: “With this step, Osasuna is placed, together with dasGate, at the forefront of technology in terms of access to stadiums, allowing its members to choose between various forms of entry and significantly reducing waiting times and queues at the stadium. exterior of El Sadar.”
Facial recognition has this month been introduced at Mexican football champions Atlas FC and the MLB’s New York Mets.
Community chat app
Season ticket holders at Angel City FC can now connect with each other through the new US pro women’s team’s Venuetize-powered mobile app.
In a first for the tech group, the new community chat function can be used in-venue or at home.
Other features will include an integration with Ticketmaster for mobile ticketing, team and event news, community updates, and the ability to access the team store to purchase merchandise. Users will also be able to tune in to Spotify playlists from their favourite ACFC players.
ACFC founder and president Julie Uhrman said: “Our ACFC supporter community is a direct extension of our team, and we are building this app with them in mind, getting their feedback and direction throughout the process. In addition to helping our fans stay up to date with ACFC news, they will learn about our players and games, purchase tickets, and buy merch.
“Most importantly for ACFC, the app will allow our community to chat directly with each other, allowing our fans to self-organise, and thus build a stronger bond united around all things Angel City.”
Mobile ticketing tennis deals
Tennis fans at this year’s ATP 500 Citi Open in Washington DC can now instantly access the best deals and upgrades and mobile entry after the tournament partnered with SeatGeek.
Through the partnership, Citi Open fans will use the SeatGeek mobile app to directly scan into the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center. Using SeatGeek, fans can browse and buy tickets using its proprietary Deal Score technology, which automatically surfaces the best deals. Read the full story here.
Background image: Ales Nesetril on Unsplash