The Phillies Offer Prepaid Food and Merchandise via the "Smart Ticket"

October 13, 2004

When the new Major League Baseball Philadelphia Phillies stadium, Citizen's Bank Park, opened in April, just under 500 Diamond Club members were able to buy credits for concessions and merchandise prior to the season, then debit their barcoded tickets at the park. The team hopes this will provide the foundation for a larger rollout in the future to the entire Diamond Club and Hall of Fame Club (4,000 fans), then to all season ticket holders (24,000 fans).

"We're starting out slow because this was something that wasn't even heard of. We're really out there on a limb at the beginning of the season," said Chris Pohl, manager of ticket technology for the Phillies.

The team partnered with concessionaire Aramark to set up the infrastructure for the purchases via a custom Micros system, which integrates with the team's Paciolan ticketing system. Roaming vendors have handheld barcode scanners to facilitate in-seat purchases. The readers are available in the Diamond Club, two major merchandise stores and the outfield entertainment area, Ashburn Alley.

Diamond Club fans have three options - unlimited purchases on their ticket, limited purchases per game on their ticket, or a standard ticket with no concession credit. The first three rows, which hold 118 seats, get unlimited credit. Those seats cost $200 to $160. The next segment, about 330 seats, get a $30 credit on top of their ticket for each game. "In the grand scope of things, $30 doesn't take as long as people will think to spend. The buffet runs $25," said Derek Schuster, manager of club sales and services.

"The idea is you have $5 or $6 or $2 left over and want to go to the merchandise store and buy a Phillies hat," Schuster said.

The idea came from the top. "Our president [David Montgomery] came to me at a party two-and-a-half years ago, grabbed me aside and said, 'I have this idea about our club seat sales area. I want to do something with our barcodes.' He kind of explained it to me and said we can do something with this. Let's look into it. One thing led to another," Pohl said.

And Schuster began selling the option as a perk. "Derek was on the hook because he sold the idea in 2003 in July. We were on the hook for this stuff," Pohl said.

"This is new to these guys who wrote it for us. It's an intriguing idea, kind of groundbreaking," Pohl said. "Ticketing is going to drive a lot of things for your [venue]. Patrons didn't want to walk in with five different [payment methods] they need to present."

And it's nice for treating clients. "From a sales standpoint, it helps a company that's going to entertain clients the majority of games. It makes something cut and dry and easy. It's right on their ticket," Schuster said.

Another big advantage is data collection. "What's spent, when, where it's spent," Schuster said. "I can tell Joe Smith the client liked Coors Light over Bud Light. We're tied to marketing. Expanding marketing with sponsorship we could take it in a lot of different avenues."

"Eventually single game tickets sold over the Internet or through an in-house phone center, [we'll ask] 'Do you want to put prepaid credit on the ticket so you can go to any concession stand?'" Pohl said. "You're not pulling out your wallet, not pulling out your credit card. You already have your ticket. ...We want that one ticket to do a lot of things. ...In a couple of years, our whole park is going to be the smart tickets."

"Eventually all the data is going to be shipped back to the ticketing system," Pohl said. "That will be the ultimate ticketing system. When you tie in, that's the whole enchilada."

There is a backup coupon system in place in case the computer system goes down, as it did one night in April due to a hardware problem. Ushers personally handed all of the patrons $30 vouchers. "I think from a customer service standpoint, people were impressed," Schuster said.

"With new technology, nothing ventured, nothing gained," Pohl said.

- Natasha Emmons

Interviewed for this story: Shaw Taylor, PR, Paciolan, (949) 476-1212 Ext. 3047; Chris Pohl, Derek Schuster, (215) 463-6000

Article published in:

Venues Today Newsletter
October 13, 2004 VOL. III, Number XXXII ISSN 1547-4143