Why YELLFY Would Implement a Chip Technology Like RFID in Sporting Events.
On one cool November day, my friends and I bought/scalped four tickets to an LSU v Alabama game, one of those games of centuries type. As we were making our way in, the security at the Tiger stadium stopped us and started to question the tickets. YES!!! the tickets were perfect work of art, fraudulent, and duplicates. That is the day as a CIO / IT professional I started to think of ways to not only “prevent” fraud in sporting events but also use technology to enhance the sports fans’ experience. As part of YELLFY’s business model, in our roadmap, we are and will be providing such services using Chip Technology to solve a number of problems.
Preventing Fraud:
Why do we need paper anymore? Fans should not carry paper tickets, input information, or even carry cash; it can all be done with the tap of a wrist. This also helps fraud prevention; each wristband is embedded with its own unique code, making it very hard to counterfeit. Also, the ticket could be a team’s Jersey. Wear your team’s jersey embedded with an RFID chip. You can also control access into for example Sky Boxes or Suites with the use of RFID. As in my experience, I saw this as one of the main pain points as people sneaking into large suites. At the same time, being able to give your members special privileges elevates the whole VIP experience. With the use of an RFID chip, you can give VIPs access to exclusive areas and provide them with perks such as free drinks tokens embedded in their bracelets.
Money! Money!
We all know how expensive food and beverages are in stadium. Or if you are like me, you like to have every Jersey or hat of your favorite team. But do you want to have that much cash in your pocket? or even carry a wallet in the stadium? NO!! just load your credit card information on the RFID chip and it can be used to make cashless payments giving fans a sense of freedom to enjoy their day worry-free, it is also known to increase spending habits due to cash not being physically exchanged between the customers and vendors. Corporations can utilize the payment data to send special offers and discounts to fans (by text or email) at the right time and the right place, increasing up-sell opportunities.
Better Marketing to the Fans:
We all know it is hard to get fans to engage with sponsors, encouraging them to take the time at a game or event to hand over their personal data is always a challenge. RFID technology does it all, this also gives you great data to negotiate sponsorship deals in the future.
Better Data:
What if you want to distinguish your season ticket holder from a fan that has just visited your stadium for the first time? What if you want to see who is sitting exactly where? Have you ever forgot where you parked? How many parking attendants do you see with thick amount of cash in hand for any sporting event parking?
All of the above are examples of a few problems where Yellfy Sports / Yingit inc has on its roadmap to solve utilizing Chip Technologies, such as RFID chips.