The National Football League and Visa (V 0.65%) today announced a deal to provide 100% cashless payments for fans throughout the stadium at Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 7, 2021, in Tampa, Florida. It will mark the first time the event is completely cash-free.
The stadium will only be 20% filled due to coronavirus restrictions, but the NFL's deal with Visa, its official payment services technology partner, calls for purchases of everything (including parking, concessions, souvenirs, food, and the like) to be cashless. The Super Bowl Experience, a weeklong event leading up to the Super Bowl, will also be cash-free.
For the Super Bowl, the league will install ATMs in the stadium that dispense Visa-branded pre-paid cards for up to $500 that can be used in the stadium or outside.
Image source: Getty Images.
"Teaming up with the NFL to now make payments completely digital at the Super Bowl not only achieves a primary goal of our partnership, but is transformative for the future of sporting events," said Mary Ann Reilly, head of North America marketing at Visa. "Visa will continue to lead the point-of-sale digital transformation at stadiums nationwide, because converting to touchless, digital payments is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for fans and concessionaires alike."
Visa has already worked with six stadiums to upgrade their point-of-sale infrastructure to take touchless payments. The NFL reports that more than 20 stadiums are either cash-free or moving in that direction.
In conjunction with this announcement, the company released a guide to help venues prepare for reopening with "digital-first operations."
Visa outlined four major benefits of going cashless: customer and vendor safety, additional revenue as fans typically spend 25% more per transaction without cash, operational efficiency, and data and loyalty.
