Taking in an NFL Game? Leave Your Cash At Home

America, are you ready for some football? 

America’s favorite sport is back for another season. Many Americans choose to watch the game from their couches and why not, it is formatted perfectly for television. But some want to go to the games, to take in the tailgate experience and then finally to be a part of the crowd in one of the cathedrals of the game. For many, this creates a lasting memory that cannot be replaced.

Leave Your Cash At Home

If you are going to head to an NFL game, leave your cash at home, at least if you are a fan of the Atlanta Falcons.

The Falcons opened Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2017 replacing the old Georgia Dome. It hosted the most recent Super Bowl as well as several college football games, concerts and is also the home field for the Atlanta United of Major League Soccer. 

Mercedes-Benz Stadium is not the first stadium to go cashless. Tampa’s Tropicana Field was the first debuting their new policy just before the start of the 2019 Major League Baseball season. 

Faster Concession Lines And More

The biggest reason cited is increased concession stand efficiency. A cashless environment will speed up transaction times, reducing lines and the stadium’s operators have even dangled the possibility of reducing the prices (already the lowest in the NFL). Patrons are also able to order food and drinks from their seats and pick them up when it is ready, allowing them to see more of the game and spend less time standing in line. 

For the team there are other benefits, like no longer needing to make cash runs to deposit at a bank and an easier time reconciling accounts and doing accounting. Another reason is cited that has not been before: cash is dirty and should not be around food. Fans that do not have a debit or credit card will be able to exchange cash for prepaid Visa debit cards at 10 kiosks placed around the stadium for free (and those cards work outside of the stadium as well).

The Trial Went Smoothly

This new policy got a trial run during Atlanta United’s season, which was underway before this announcement was made. The United are defending MLS champions and do draw very well, so most kinks should be worked out before the start of the Falcons’ season. So far it seems to have gone smoothly and fans have been supportive though there seems to be no noticeable increase in speed at concession stands as workers still fumble with cards and patrons do not have their cards ready when it comes time to pay. 

Not Everyone Is On Board

The move did draw the ire of at least one city council member as Atlanta is one of several major cities that are considering ordinances to protect consumers who want to use cash amid a growing trend of merchants that are going cashless. Several cities have already enacted such ordinances to protect the poorer residents of those cities who do not have their money in a bank or have a credit card and rely on cash. 

There has also been one other noticeable difference. Since fans are not carrying cash ticket scalpers have disappeared. Many tickets are stored electronically and cannot be bartered so if fans do not carry cash they cannot make a purchase. Less than one season in some Atlanta United fans do not even know what a scalper is.