From Secure access to Better Shopping, RFID Improves Sporting Experience

Your favorite team is pitted against its arch enemy: The scene is set for an exciting match. With RFID in play, visitors to the ballpark or football stadium will miss less of the action by standing in long lines to pay for their drinks, food and souvenirs. Stadiums around the world are implementing RFID-based payment systems to speed the check-out process using RFID-enabled credit cards. Such systems are already installed in dozens of stadiums in the United States and in Europe.

No Long Lines

Often, RFID-based payment systems are combined with access cards. The football club in Manchester, U.K., for instance, has issued RFID-based season tickets that give holders quick access to turnstiles, keeping lines from building up.

Stadiums in Germany used RFID-based access systems during the World Cup in 2006, and one company even developed an RFID-based system for helping referees determine if a ball really crossed a goal line. It featured 12 readers mounted around the stadium. Using a ball containing a tiny RFID tag, the system gathered data used to calculate the exact position of the balls that whizzed by.

Similarly, racetrack operators may begin tracking horses that move at breakneck speeds around the ring. By using RFID, they can tell precisely when a horse’s foot crosses the finish line.

RFID Olympics

During the 2008 summer Olympic Games in Beijing, RFID also play a star role. In one of the world’s largest applications, some 12.2 million entrance tickets included RFID tags to provide extra security against counterfeiting and easy access to the games. In addition, the city started a vehicle emissions-tracking program based on RFID, which has continued after the games.