For years, the fan experience at sports venues has been radically transformed, with technology playing a central role in reshaping how we watch games live. As competition with the comfort and affordability of watching sports from home continues to intensify, sports venues have been forced to level-up their offerings.
Fans now expect more than just a ticket to the game — they demand a seamless, engaging, and sensational experience from the moment they enter the stadium. To meet these expectations, venues are increasingly turning to cutting-edge technologies such as facial biometrics, and a recent Stadium Tech Report Stadium Connectivity Outlook Survey gives us a glimpse into the number of venue operators that are prioritizing biometrics in 2025.
An evolution that was years in the making
In the years following the first deployment of Wicket facial authentication software in 2020, interest within the sports industry was relatively modest. From 2021 through 2023, Wicket set out to stake its claim as the leading provider of biometric solutions that enhance the fan experience, but it was an uphill battle.
The industry needed proof of the benefits of such technology and that fans were willing to adopt it and use it. After years of pushing forward with a select number of innovative customers – everything changed in 2024.
Take the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, for example. This highly-anticipated venue implemented an arena-wide biometric system to allow fans to skip the traditional ticketing process and use their biometric data to enter the stadium or make a concessions purchase within seconds – and the industry took notice.
Other venues, such as Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, have also adopted facial biometrics across their venues for multiple use cases – putting them at the forefront of early adopters of this growing technology.
The Growing Demand for Biometric Solutions
According to the Stadium Tech Report Stadium Connectivity Outlook Survey, a significant percentage of venues are planning to adopt or expand their biometric capabilities in the near future. The data highlights that 47% of respondents have identified biometric technology as a key initiative on their roadmap for 2025.
Additionally, 58% of respondents are also prioritizing cashierless concessions – a use case that is increasingly seeing biometric technology embedded into the experience so that fans can pay with their face at self-checkout kiosks or enter autonomous stores without having to take out a credit card.
Respondents recognize that these capabilities are not just about keeping up with technological trends; they’re about meeting the evolving expectations and behaviors of fans accustomed to the ease of digital transactions and already familiar with using facial biometrics to unlock their iPhones.
Looking to the Future of Live Events
As interest in this technology continues to grow and more venues invest in these systems, fans can expect faster entry times, smoother transactions, and a more personalized fan journey. Over the course of the next 5 years, biometric technology will likely become standard at major sports venues, turning what was once a vision into a tangible reality.
If 2024 is any indication, 2025 promises even more advancements in the fan experience, with responsible use of biometric technology at the forefront of this transformation.
