The digital age verification technology will debut during tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals at FirstEnergy Stadium.Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images (FirstEnergy Stadium); Courtesy of Aramark (Cleveland Cold Ones)
The Cleveland Browns will expand its use of Wicket’s facial recognition technology to introduce digital age verification for fans buying alcohol and snacks during tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals at FirstEnergy Stadium. Aramark Sports + Entertainment will oversee the deployment with Tapin2, the mobile ordering company that operates 14 beer pick-up and snacks stations at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Fans 21 and older can now opt into Wicket’s digital age verification by uploading a selfie and picture of their government-issued ID to the Browns’ mobile app. Wicket is in its third season of powering Browns Express Access, the team’s opt-in facial ticketing service that has surpassed 22,000 registrants. Members can now place a mobile beer order via the Browns app to pick up at any of the 14 Cleveland Cold Ones stations at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Fans will then scan their face at Wicket’s kiosk that confirms their age, identity and order before an employee then hands them their beverage and food order. Cleveland Cold Ones locations serve packaged snacks such as peanuts and chips, and Wicket plans to eventually expand its facial payments to other concession stands inside FirstEnergy Stadium.
“They’re going to present their face to a Wicket sensor to be recognized,” says Glenn Borgmann, Wicket’s EVP of sales and partnerships. “We’re going to tell the person behind the counter their order number and that they’re 21. It's taking away the step of someone having to scan the QR code, then check the ID, and then go package the food. So, the transaction is minimized by at least two steps.”
Aramark and the Browns hosted a pilot trial of Wicket’s age verification for beer orders during Week 5 and 6 before tonight’s full deployment for Week 8 of the NFL season. IDmission, a biometrics security company that’s popular in the banking industry, is working with Wicket to facilitate the process of matching a person’s driver’s license or government ID with their selfie submitted to the Browns app.
Among the 22,000 Browns fans who have enrolled in Wicket’s facial ticketing via Ticketmaster, zero fans have opted out of the service since its debut in 2020. Wicket has also never had a case of their system inaccurately IDing a fan entering a stadium, the company’s CEO Sanjay Manandha said in September at SBJ’s AXS Sports Facilities & Franchises and Ticketing Symposium.
Other Wicket partners offering facial ticketing include the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and MLB’s New York Mets as well as MLS’s Columbus Crew, who share the Browns’ Haslam Sports Group as its owner. Verizon, which supplied its 5G network to more than 75 sports stadiums, signed a deal with Wicket in September that is expected to help expand facial ticketing into NBA and NHL venues.
“I see NBA and NHL clients for Wicket coming on board in the coming months,” Borgmann tells SportTechie. “We are [also] working to introduce payments across all of our clients in 2023. Facial payments is an important next step for both our clients, some of our prospective clients, and certainly for Wicket."
