The Wild on Monday announced that digital ticketing will replace paper tickets for season-ticket holders starting this season. Season-ticket holders will receive a smart card, the size of a credit card, that contains all of their account information. The card will be scanned upon entry to the Xcel Energy Center (Wild). The Wild said that about "half of the teams in the NHL and some in other leagues in North America offer a form of digital ticketing." Wild COO Matt Majka: "The time is right to make this transition. Our fans have become accustomed to using the convenience of online and mobile technology in many other areas of their lives.” In Minneapolis, Paul Walsh noted the ticket-printing option can be "forwarded to others in an e-mail or downloaded to their smartphone" (STARTRIBUNE.com, 7/8).
INTO THE WILD: In St. Paul, Charley Walters noted Wild Owner Craig Leipold is "excited about the gigantic new video scoreboard that will be in place in Xcel Energy Center for next season." Leipold: "We're in the entertainment business; we need to keep up with other teams, and our fans are going to love the scoreboard. This is the newest generation. It's not only going to be bigger and clearer, but the uniqueness is that it's still going to have the characteristic of the culture of the Minnesota Wild." He added, "It's not just lights and metal. There's going to be some wood and our trees are going to be up there. It's going to be iconic; everybody will know that they're in the Minnesota Wild arena." Leipold revealed that within the next 12 months, "probably every seat in the Xcel Energy Center will have been replaced with new ones" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 7/6).
