Image Credit: Matt McGee (CC BY-ND 2.0)
A name change isn't the only change coming to T-Mobile Park during the 2019 Major League Baseball season. The Seattle Mariners are testing cashless transactions at a dozen food and beverage points of sale inside the stadium. Fans will also no longer be able to print their tickets at home using the popular PDF format. Instead, baseball fans will be asked to download the MLB Ballpark App and utilize the popular mobile ticketing option that nearly half of Major League Baseball stadiums have already implemented. Suite holders and their guests will still be issued printed tickets when entering T-Mobile Park.
Fans will still be able to purchase Seattle Mariners tickets using cash at T-Mobile Park's merchandise store and exterior ticket booths. Season ticket holders will have the option of having their tickets sent to their mobile devices or printed traditionally. Cash is already no longer accepted at Mariners Garage, one of T-Mobile Park's three main parking garages. The majority of T-Mobile Park's points of sale inside the stadium will still welcome cash as payment. All food and beverage points of sale inside 'The Pen' will no longer accept cash during Mariners games. Following the 2019 season, the Seattle Mariners organization will evaluate the wait times and speed of each transaction to determine if cash will be banned throughout the entire stadium in upcoming seasons. The Tampa Bay Rays have already banned cash at Tropicana Field. The city of Philadelphia has taken the opposite stance and is moving to ban cashless operations inside the city. Going cashless would cut out certain demographics of the city from being able to make purchases because they don't have credit cards. Therefore, Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies) is one Major League Baseball stadium that will always welcome cash from fans.
The Seattle Mariners are also rolling out a "mobile pass" subscription service for fans. For $99 per month, baseball fans will receive a standing room only ticket for every Seattle Mariners home game that month. Tickets for the mobile pass program are sent to each fan's mobile device the day of each game via the MLB Ballpark App. Many Major League Baseball teams are adopting the mobile pass option as an effort to help increase attendance among younger fans. Data has shown that younger fans enjoy going to games as a social event rather than watching an entire game in their seats as entertainment. The Golden State Warriors have perhaps the worst mobile pass option in professional sports with the "In The Building Pass". For $100 per month, the pass allows fans to enter the arena but are not offered a view of the game.
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