MLB, Phillies unveil Go-Ahead Entry at Citizens Bank Park

PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies introduced a faster hands-free entry into Citizens Bank Park on Monday.

The team is piloting a “facial authentication-based” program called “MLB Go-Ahead Entry,” which is now available at the First Base Gate. Fans 18 and older can register for the program using the MLB Ballpark app. Fans take a one-time selfie in the app, which is then stored as a unique numerical token before the image is deleted. Fans enter the ballpark alone or with their group without stopping or even opening the app.

• More information on the new Go-Ahead Entry program

“It’s designed to be a free-flow, hands-free entry experience, and it’s really centered around families walking in together,” said Karri Zaremba, Major League Baseball’s senior vice president of product -- ballpark experience and ticketing. “When they get to Citizens Bank Park, they go to the Go-Ahead Entry lane and just walk straight through. You don’t have to stop. You don’t have to get your phone out. You don’t stop to scan a ticket. You literally just walk straight in.”

MLB’s Go-Ahead Entry technology uses facial authentication cameras, which scan each fan's face to match with the enrolled tokens in the system.

“We think it can save a lot of time,” Zaremba said. “It’s the difference between waiting in any kind of line vs. the time it takes you to walk in at full walking speed.”

So far, at least a couple thousand fans have opted in to the program.

“Fans will always have the traditional way of entering,” Zaremba said. “MLB nor the Phillies store any images of fans, so there’s no image that’s stored in the app or anywhere else. It’s also completely optional. So if people don’t feel comfortable using it, they always have the traditional game-entry experience they can use.”

The Phillies and MLB have been working on this program for more than two years. Fans used Go-Ahead Entry for the first time on Monday night for the series opener against the Giants.

It is easy to imagine Go-Ahead Entry expanding to more lanes at Citizens Bank Park and eventually to MLB’s 29 other ballparks. But for now, the Phillies and MLB are focused on testing the program this season.

“Then we’ll look at getting a lot of fan feedback and see how fans react to it, and then we’ll evaluate further in the offseason,” Zaremba said.

"The numbers of enrollment, they’ve been surprising to us," said Phillies vice president and chief technology officer Sean Walker. "We've had a great, positive response. This is the way that people are learning to operate -- everything from the airlines to shopping. The frictionless transaction is all part of the expectation of society now. The easier it is, the better the experience."