On Tropicana Field’s No-Cash Policy
At Tropicana Field, the only cash welcome is evidently manager Kevin Cash.
According to a report by Eduardo A. Encina, who writes about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and pro sports enterprise for the Tampa Bay Times, “the Trop” is becoming the first cash-free sports venue in North America. Apple Pay, major credit cards, Rays gift cards, Samsung Pay, and season ticket holder cards will be accepted. Attendees with cash will need to put their money into gift cards if they’re going to buy from stadium vendors.
Imaginably, the goal of this shift is reducing concession wait times. According to analytics provided by LevyHospitality, the arena’s hospitality partner, the move could cut wait times in half.
This transition would appear to make a lot of sense. After all, people are becoming much less reliant on cash for purchases. Plus, Tropicana Field is already using electronic payments exclusively in its parking lots. It also has used its ticket holder ID cards since 2012. In other words, this kind of technology is not altogether foreign to the Rays organization. Additionally, going away from cash reduces the likelihood of physical theft.
This is not to say that everyone is in favor of the move, and I sympathize with its detractors. For one, cash is designed to work smoothly and cleanly. There’s no identifying information needed. Reliance on credit cards and other electronic forms of payment invariably raises questions about privacy and security.
Even if gift cards are used, meanwhile, there’s still the matter that these are issued in $10 and $20 increments. What happens if you’re an infrequent visitor to Tropicana Field? Judging by attendance records, there are quite a few infrequent visitors. Is there a way to redeem the remaining value on your card without an additional purchase? What if you misplace your card? Sure, that may be on you as its holder. It still may be difficult, though, to keep track of how much residual value is on your card—assuming you don’t have more than one to manage.
There are other concerns to be had, too. Not everyone has a bank account or uses some other method of cash-free payment. Particularly
Even noting the risks, some would argue the benefits may outweigh them. Money is grubby, and making change requires time and concentration. Fans may simply not feel safe bringing loads of cash to the ballpark. Moreover, simply put, such a shift seems to be a sign of the times and
As noted earlier, I sympathize with those who might opt for cash over credit. Though I use a card frequently, I usually carry some cash with me as well. I like paying with cash. It’s easy, and I can use my change pretty much anywhere else. I don’t have to worry about how much value is left on it or if it expires. Maybe I’m just an old fuddy-duddy, but I don’t know that going cash-free is completely necessary. Are wait times that obscene? Are we having trouble with the speed of transactions because cashiers have trouble doing the arithmetic? If so, we might have bigger problems on our hands.
According to a poll conducted on Tampa Bay Times’s Sports Twitter account, about one in four respondents (820 total) were bothered most by a cashless Tropicana Field. That beat “Closing the upper deck” but fell short of “Trading Jake Bauers” and the “none of the above” option. It may be just as well. Like it or not, a cash-free Trop is coming, and it’s a historic happening for Major League Baseball. Let’s see if the product on the field can remain as innovative as the business
-Joe Mangano
