Blues embark on cashless drive in Stamford Bridge

Article posted by Coliseum, March 17^th, 2020

Image: MJR Group Ltd./Coliseum

Taking a leaf out of the books of several clubs across the country, Chelsea has decided to go cashless at its residence – Stamford Bridge. The phased exercise began on March 1 and the club aims to go totally cashless by October 2020.

Stamford Bridge is a football stadium in Fulham, adjacent to the borough of Chelsea in South West London, commonly referred to as The Bridge. It is the home of Chelsea Football Club, which competes in the Premier League.

Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London.

The total switchover to other methods for paying will apply on both match days and non-match days and will be the culmination of a phased change.

The club said that its various verticals are already reaping the benefits of going cashless so the transition will bring the rest of the organization in line with this approach.

By going completely cashless, Stamford Bridge will measure up to the level of avant-garde stadiums and how modern stadiums should operate. Cashless transactions will lead to speedy service and no longer waiting in serpentine queues in all areas of the club operations on a game day.

Research has revealed cashless transactions can average half the time taken in comparison to transactions using cash.

In a statement, the club said it appreciates the fact that majority of its fans are already using cards to make their purchases at Stamford Bridge, so the impact of going totally cashless should not be very apparent. Hospitality space, events operations when games are not held, various restaurants within the complex and some catering kiosks in the West Stand have already gone cashless.

The underground car park machines are already accepting cashless payments only, including Apple Pay and Google Pay from March 1.

The club’s ticket office will go cashless on April 1 for all season ticket renewals and match by match tickets.

The stadium food and beverage outlets, match day programs, betting outlets, 50/50 lottery, and nightclub Under the Bridge will go cashless in July 2020. The megastore and all merchandising outlets, museum and stadium tours will all be characterized by cashless transactions from October 2020.

Another statement sent out by the club read, “We will keep our supporters and customers updated on the switchover as these areas of the business move away from cash during the remainder of this season and through the summer.”

In January this year, Chelsea announced that Stamford Bridge will become 5G-enabled as part of its new shirt sponsorship deal with the telecommunications company Three.

An increasing number of sports and entertainment venues are embracing the cashless model. Other UK-based venues to have announced cashless plans recently include Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, Bristol City’s Ashton Gate and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

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