Wicket has surpassed 1 million opt-in users and processed more than 8 million biometric interactions across sports and live events, illustrating a strong growth trajectory for the facial authentication provider.
Jeff Boehm, COO of Wicket, shared the figures in a recent interview on the ID Talk podcast, tracing the company’s trajectory from its original COVID-era partnership with the Cleveland Browns to a customer base of nearly 100 organizations spanning professional sports, conferences, and live entertainment.
Among the milestones Boehm discussed was Wicket’s NFL-wide credentialing deployment. The platform is now used for field access, locker room entry, and press box credentials at NFL games across the country, a major expansion from the company’s early stadium work that crossed 5 million biometric scans in late 2025.
On the conference side, Boehm pointed to Salesforce’s Dreamforce as a standout deployment, noting that the annual event has achieved a 70 to 80 percent opt-in rate over three consecutive years among its roughly 50,000 attendees. Internationally, Wicket is now in its third year of deployment at the Australian Open, a foothold Boehm said is opening doors to additional tennis tournaments around the world.
The company is also pushing into the collegiate space. Boehm discussed an Ohio State University pilot program that allows students to use facial authentication for venue entry, part of a broader expansion that includes a partnership with Paciolan to bring facial authentication to college sports venues. Wicket has simultaneously expanded its Major League Soccer agreement to cover 2026 events.
Boehm teased European expansion as well, saying announcements are forthcoming, and emphasized the enrollment model that distinguishes Wicket from surveillance-style facial recognition. The system operates on an opt-in, “overt not covert” basis, requiring users to actively enroll rather than having their faces captured without their knowledge or consent.
The COO also offered a broader industry perspective, arguing that biometrics companies need to shift their focus away from technical benchmarks and toward the quality of the experiences they deliver for end users, rather than simply touting “speeds and feeds.”
To hear the full conversation with Boehm, listen to the latest episode of ID Talk, available wherever podcasts are found or through the media player below.
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
