The Falcons think moving to mobile-only ticketing will make Mercedes-Benz Stadium saferGETTY IMAGES
The Falcons will "adopt mobile-only ticketing, meaning fans exclusively will enter the gates by holding their smartphone close to a scanner that will read a constantly refreshing barcode," according to Tim Tucker of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. The Falcons eliminated paper tickets when the stadium opened in '17, and "since then the team had offered the option of scanning mobile devices or season-ticket member cards to gain entry to games." The cards "now are being eliminated, to the displeasure of some fans." Falcons VP/Sales & Service Don Rovak called the move a "continuing evolution, no different from when we went from (paper) tickets to cards." The Falcons in an email sent to season-ticket holders this week said that the change "will provide 'a safer game day experience by limiting unnecessary contacts,' will personalize the fan experience and will reduce ticket fraud." Some fans have "expressed unhappiness on social media and elsewhere about the elimination of the season-ticket game-day cards." Rovak said, “It wasn’t the decision of, ‘Oh, we really didn’t want to do this, but now given the environment it’s the right move.' Instead, it was more (a case of being) consistent with everything we’re trying to deliver from a fan-experience side and from a health-and-safety side.” Rovak "acknowledged the Falcons have heard from some fans who don’t want to deal with the technology of mobile ticketing" but said he "believes they’ll become comfortable with it" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 5/16).
