Another Arena Adopts Digital Payments As the MLB Nationals Work With FIS-Worldpay

The competition to bring digital-payments capability to sports arenas is getting hotter. FIS Inc. announced early Thursday its Worldpay unit is exclusively processing payments for tickets, concessions, and merchandise at Washington D.C.’s Nationals Park, home of the city’s Nationals Major League Baseball team.

As part of the deal, Jacksonville, Fla.-based FIS is also processing payments onsite, online, and through a mobile app for the BetMGM sportsbook, located at the park and said to be the first such operation linked to a Major League stadium. Processing for the BetMGM facility began before Major League Baseball’s opening day, April 7, an FIS spokesman tells Digital Transactions News.

The contract involves FIS’s Ethos Data Solutions unit, a real-time analytics operation that can aid in personalizing the way the Nationals enterprise caters to its fans, FIS said. The deal also includes prepaid cards issued to players, employees, and seasonal workers to cover per diem expenses.

“The new [FIS] technology has aided in our frictionless payments strategy, allowing guests to spend more time enjoying the game and less time waiting in line,” said Alan Gottlieb, chief operating officer of Lerner Sports Group, in a statement. The Lerner family, headed by Ted Lerner, has owned the Nationals since 2006, one year after the team relocated from Montreal.

The Nationals’ decision to equip its stadium for digital payments is not the first such move by a D.C-based sports venue and follows similar stadium contracts elsewhere. Shift4 Payments Inc. announced in February it had signed Audi Field, home of the D.C. United soccer team, to a deal that includes mobile ordering for concessions and other commerce at the park. That deal is supported by Shift4’s VenueNext unit. Other stadiums where Shift4 and VenueNext have installed digital-payments capability in the past year include Petco Park in San Diego, the United Center in Chicago, and T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

FIS is also processing for other sports arenas, according to the spokesman, including TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, home of the FC Cincinnati soccer club. The spokesman was not authorized to name other venues.

FIS acquired Worldpay, a massive transaction processor, for $43 billion in the summer of 2019.