Cambridge, MA – July 18, 2023 – Wicket, the leading facial authentication platform provider, announced today that the Cleveland Browns sped up fan entry by 400% – increasing fan satisfaction and reducing the number of ticket scanning lanes needed by a ratio of 4:1 – with Wicket facial ticketing. With an average entry time of less than 2 seconds per ticket, the Cleveland Browns have been able to clear their gates 10 minutes faster on average. This reduces the space needed for ticketing ingress operations by 75%, saving the team an average of $8,000 per Wicket ticketing lane per season. The data comes from analyses comparing traditional and Wicket facial ticketing lanes from the Cleveland Browns 2022 season.
Wicket’s computer vision facial authentication platform enables fans to enter the stadium by associating their tickets with their face, providing faster, frictionless entry. Fans can enroll in less than a minute, and participation is entirely opt-in.
The Cleveland Browns first partnered with Wicket in 2020 to enhance the game-day experience with the Express Access facial ticketing program. Over three seasons, the Browns have expanded this program to 20 dedicated Express Access ticketing lanes, with more than 50% of season ticket holders opting into the program. In 2022, the partnership expanded to offer fans facial Age Verification and Mobile Order Pickup at Cleveland Cold Ones locations in the ballpark. The Browns have also deployed the technology for club level access and credentialled access to restricted areas (such as field level, player and coaching areas, and the press box), showing how facial authentication improves experiences across the stadium.
“The implementation of Express Access has provided fans with a best-in-class experience. Following the addition of age verification and mobile order pickup, fans opted into an experience they couldn’t get anywhere else in the NFL,” said Brandon Covert, Vice President of Technology at the Cleveland Browns. “Our fans who used Express Access had entry satisfaction ratings of 9.7 versus traditional mobile ticketing methods where scores averaged 8.5 on the season.”
“During the past two years, Wicket’s technology has helped significantly improve ingress at Cleveland Browns Stadium, both for Browns fans and our stadium operations team. They provided integral contributions that led our team to have one of its best performances to date for wait times and safe, efficient stadium access in 2022. We expect even greater results as we expand our use of Wicket’s innovative systems to further enhance all fans’ gameday and event experience,” said David Jenkins, COO of the Cleveland Browns.
“We are proud to be partnering with the Cleveland Browns to improve the experience for fans, staff, players, and press at Cleveland Browns Stadium,” said Sanjay Manandhar, CEO, Wicket. “We look forward to continuing to expand the role of Wicket’s secure facial authentication platform to reduce friction, boost security, and improve the fan experience for all Browns fans.”
PRIVACY AT THE FOREFRONT
Wicket is a privacy-first facial authentication company. All of Wicket’s facial authentication products are opt-in only. Registered individuals submit their images by choice for speedy stadium access and other benefits.
Data is always encrypted, de-identified, wholly owned by the customer, will never be shared with or used by a third party, and is discarded after a set period of time.
ABOUT WICKET
Wicket (www.wicketsoft.com) is a computer vision AI company with offices in Cambridge, MA and Doylestown, PA. Wicket has developed and deployed software products for some of the biggest sports and entertainment customers in the United States. With a portfolio of issued and pending patents, Wicket’s Facial Authentication platform includes products for facial ticketing, facial access control, facial credentialing, VIP management, and security alerting for sports & entertainment, conferences & events, retail, education, hospitality, and enterprises.