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FLORIDA ATHLETICS

How the University of Florida Expanded the Use of Facial Authentication for their Fans

TICKETING

40
Number of people per minute per single express entry lane
11 k+
Number of new enrollments between August and December
30 k+
Total express entries across all 2025 events, of which 12% were non-football

Florida Gators Biometrics

CUSTOMER GOALS

  • Surpass 10k enrollments in year 1
  • Reduce fan frustration with ingress
  • Increase throughput rate at entry
  • Prioritize student ticket experience
  • Gain visibility into whether students use their tickets or sell / transfer

University of Florida & Wicket

The University of Florida began their use of biometrics as part of a student section pilot program at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the end of the 2024 football season. After seeing the benefits for fans entering the stadium and staff operating these “express lanes”, the university decided to roll out the same technology to all football fans and for other sporting events on campus.

After our pilot in 2024, it was clear students loved Express Entry, so it was a no-brainer to open it up to all fans, across all 7 ticketed sports.

MIKE CASTLE

Associate Athletic Director, Ticketing

University of Florida Athletics

Expansion Planning

Going from Pilot to All-in

As part of their expansion, the university increased the total number of Wicket entry devices and tasked select staff with managing the devices across their various sporting events. Florida planned new deployments at Exactech Arena, Condron Family Ballpark, and Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium for 2025.

Flexible Solutions
Devices can adapt to the unique needs of each venue, are easily movable, and can operate indoors and outdoors 
30
Wicket devices went from just a handful to 30

MARKETING

How They Reached Fans

Building off the success they saw with email campaigns and a dedicated web page that spoke to the benefits of the program, Florida expanded fan communications with targeted outreach to different segments and used custom ticket modules that display just below digital tickets for all fans to see.

Weekly Cadence

Florida deployed weekly marketing tactics over the course of a month to drive new enrollments prior to first game of the season

EXECUTION

Gameday Prep was Critical

Prior to the first football game of the season and subsequent sporting events, Florida put their plan into action by training staff on how to use the technology and deploying on-site signage. This enabled staff to be educated on the entry workflow, enrolled fans to easily find the express lanes, and new fans to scan a QR code to quickly enroll on the day of the event.

The Results

How their Expansion Went

The results proved that all of the planning and execution efforts were worth it. Football events saw an average of nearly 4,500 ticket scans through express entry and gymnastics and basketball events at Exactech Arena saw hundreds of fans per event with usage steadily increasing through the end of 2025. 

20%

Game Day Enrollments

New users who enrolled on-site or day of first event
40

People Per Minute

Actual throughput rate of a single device Express Entry lane
11k+

New Enrollments

Number of new enrollments between August and December
30k+

Total Ticket Scans

Total express entries across all 2025 events, of which 12% were non-football

Flexible Technology

Create Frictionless Experiences

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