KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals are set to become the latest MLB club to start using a “facial authentication system” to get fans into the ballpark.
Royals fans going to Monday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Kauffman Stadium will be able to see the new technology in action, with opted-in ticket holders able to use the technology to enter the stadium.
Officially known as “MLB Go-Ahead Entry,” once fans pass the security screening, they’ll be able to enter the ballpark without stopping to have their tickets scanned.
The program is several years in the making, which included fan surveys, research and development.
"One of the areas of feedback we've consistently gotten over the years was about entering," Karri Zaremba, senior vice president of ballpark experience and ticketing for MLB, said during a news conference Monday. "This tended to be a moment of high anxiety when people were concerned about would they be able to find their tickets on their device."
Here's Zaremba talking more about what MLB hopes to achieve with the technology:
The technology was first pioneered last season with the Philadelphia Phillies. Four other teams, including the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers (for the All-Star Game) and Washington Nationals started using the technology at the beginning of the 2024 season.
Kansas City Royals Chief Operating Officer Jason Sinnarajah said he and Royals Chairman and CEO John Sherman went to a Phillies playoff game last fall and saw the system in action.
"After seeing it live, our organization was determined to bring it here to Kansas City and be one of the first teams to adopt a technology that will transformationally change the gate entry process," Sinnarajah said during Monday's news conference. "We really believe our fans will enjoy this and find the new experience to be truly different."
How does it work?
The system works when fans opt-in to pre-enroll using MLB’s Ballpark app. Fans take a selfie picture and link that to their ticket account.
When fans arrive at the game, cameras in the arrival area scan fans' faces with the submission in their ticket app and allow entry.
Zaremba says the technology uses the photo to create an alpha numeric token to authenticate the fan. The photo is then deleted. Zaremba says the photos are not stored and cannot be used for any purpose than the gate entry process.
The system allows families and groups to use the process. If the person who has the tickets connected to their MLB Ballpark app opts-in for Go-Ahead Entry, everyone else in the group will be able to walk in without any additional need to scan tickets.
"The results have been phenomenal, both in terms of fan reaction and in terms of observing the solution," Zaremba said.
Here's Zaremba walking through the process:
Where will the Go-Ahead Entry lanes be at Kauffman Stadium?
Sinnarajah says two-thirds of Royals fans enter the stadium at either Gate B or Gate D, so that's where the Go-Ahead Entry lanes will first be offered. He says fans who don't opt-in to Go-Ahead Entry can still enter the stadium through the existing process. The team plans to have staff positioned across all gates to the stadium to assist fans interested in using the process.
"An experience that used to take minutes is now going to take seconds," Sinnarajah says.
Watch Sinnarajah and Zaremba explain more about the program:
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