December 6,2006
-
PayPass Hits the NFL
The first 5,000 fans entering Giants Stadium on September 10th were in for a little more than an exciting football game. Thanks to a deal between the New York Giants' football club and MasterCard, the lucky game-goers were armed with a PayPass wristband in Giants' colors, preloaded with $25 in credit to spend at concession stands! The PayPass, MasterCard's contactless payment device, has been touted as a herald to the new wave of convenience pay options for time-strapped consumers. The wristbands were the first roll-out of MasterCard's plan to test different forms of the PayPass specific to events and places.
The Giants wristbands were also the PayPass's first foray into association with the NFL, but not the last. The Arizona Cardinals inked a deal with MasterCard to equip PayPass systems in their new stadium. The promotion is definitely good PayPass, which currently suffers from a lack of penetration into the market – only some 32,000 locations worldwide are equipped to accept it.