Wicket’s Biometric Tech to Secure Entire NFL

America’s National Football League is dramatically expanding its use of facial recognition technology provided by Wicket. After a six-stadium pilot last year, the NFL will bring the tech to all of its 32 teams, using it to regulate access to high-security zones including locker rooms, the press box, and, of course, the playing field.

Wicket saw its first major NFL deployment back in 2020, through a partnership with the Cleveland Browns. Its “Express Access” system enabled fans to link their game passes to their face biometrics, which in turn got them expedited access to the stadium through dedicated screening lanes.

Last year, Cleveland Browns administrators provided data on exactly what kind of impact the biometric system had on the 2022 football season. It enabled fans to clear queues 10 minutes faster and reduced the number of ticket scanning lanes needed. The reduced operational burden reportedly resulted in cost savings of $8,000 per Wicket ticketing lane through the course of the season.

The expansion of Wicket tech across the NFL won’t be focused on ticketing, but rather on security and staff credentialing. It is expected to impact thousands of staff, members of the press, and vendors who need access to high-security areas during the football season.

Speaking to Sports Business Journal, the NFL’s Senior Director of Security Services, Billy Langenstein, emphasized the organization’s need to “know every single person who is being credentialed to work an NFL game, who they are, and the access levels they should have to do their job,” adding, “And a big part of it is accountability for those individuals, embracing it, learning it and evaluating the safety and security of the program.”

While Wicket itself is the provider of the biometric tech, London-based Accredit Solutions is delivering the enterprise-level credential management software. The biometric credentialing system will go live in the first week of the preseason.

Source: Sports Business Journal

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July 29, 2024 – by Alex Perala