The New York Mets has trialled its facial recognition ticketing system at the Citi Field ballpark as part of a showcase event of the ballpark’s new amenities for the 2022 season. Computer vision company Wicket has partnered with the Mets to add its facial ticket kiosks at all stadium gates after a smaller pilot last season.
For entry into the ballpark fans must upload a selfie on MLB.com to register their face. The Mets is the first MLB team to offer Wicket’s facial ticketing.
Last year’s Wicket pilot at Citi Field was used at VIP gates for about 20 games, with the facial recognition even working on fans with masks on.
Fans can still have their mobile tickets scanned on their phones to enter Citi Field, and children are not eligible to use Wicket’s system given age laws on facial recognition deployment.
Mets VP of technology solutions, Oscar Fernandez, said, “We thought this is one of many components to get fans in faster. If you have a group of five or 10 and their scrolling through tickets, instead of just having one button as [Wicket] recognises your face and you’re not taking your phone out of your pocket, we thought that was a great thing to have. They’re used to doing [facial recognition] in other aspects of their life, whether it’s opening your phone or going to the airport and using your face to get into the gate. It’s becoming more visible and more secure.”
Fernandez also confirmed photos are not stored on Wicket devices and data will not be shared or sold to any third parties, “The face is taken and turned into numbers. We’re not actually storing it, it’s just a designation of what that unique face is.”
Other teams to use Wicket’s facial ticketing include the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and the Columbus Crew in MLS.
Image: Shutterstock
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