Soccer Fans Use RFID Cards To Gain Admission And Buy Food

Used with permission from RFID Journal, Inc.

The Manchester City Football Club is adding prepaid payment functionality to its RFID-enabled stadium membership cards, beginning with a trial of the MasterCard Prepaid Seasoncard. This card is unique because it includes RFID-enabled capabilities that let cardholders not only gain access to the stadium but also use MasterCard's contactless PayPass technology to buy food, beverages and other items during the games, as well as make purchases at retail locations elsewhere.

The trial, conducted in cooperation with Altair Financial Services International, MasterCard, Bank of America subsidiary MBNA Europe and RFID systems integrator Fortress GB, began on March 16 with 3,800 ticket holders. The pilot will continue through the rest of the British football season—about six more games.

Following the trial's conclusion, Manchester City Stadium plans to review the results with the other participating companies and determine whether to deploy PayPass sales terminals throughout its 50,000-seat facility. The pilot is taking place in one stadium section, encompassing about 3,500 seats and 10 to 20 retail establishments, says Richad Wray, Altair's head of business development.

Provided by Gemalto, the card has the Manchester football club logo, the cardholder's name and the MasterCard logo emblazoned on the front. It contains a single passive 13.56 MHz RFID tag that provides both access to stadium seats (via RFID-enabled turnstiles provide by Fortress GB) and PayPass transaction functionality. The tag contains an NXP Semiconductors Mifare RFID chip, which complies with the ISO 14443 international proximity device standard, as well as MasterCard's PayPass specification, which is based on ISO 14443.