SoFi Stadium-Square push the payment envelope

Article posted by Coliseum, October 19^th, 2021

Image: Business Wire

In a first-of-its-kind, 10-year partnership, Square has been selected as the exclusive point-of-sale (POS), payments, software and merchant services provider for the scintillating SoFi Stadium (US), home to the National Football League (NFL) teams Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams, and Hollywood Park, the 300-acre mixed-use development being built by Los Angeles Rams Owner/Chairman and SoFi Stadium developer E. Stanley Kroenke.

The ‘businesswire’ stated that together, Square, SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, and Legends are ushering in a new standard for fan experience that enables seamless commerce centered around delighting and engaging sports fans and concert-goers, while rising to meet the new challenges, needs and opportunities facing the entertainment and sporting industry.

San Francisco (US)-headquartered Square, Inc. revolutionized payments in 2009 with Square Reader, making it possible for anyone to accept card payments using a smartphone or tablet. Today, it builds tools to empower businesses and individuals to participate in the economy. Sellers use Square to reach buyers online and in-person, manage their business and access financing. Square has offices in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Ireland, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

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The eye-catching SoFi Stadium – home of Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers – is located in Hollywood Park. The 3.1 million square-feet SoFi Stadium is the largest stadium in the NFL, as well as the first indoor-outdoor stadium. It seats approximately 70,000, expandable up to 100,000, with more than 260 luxury suites and more than 13,000 premium seats.

Founded in 2008, New York (US)-headquartered Legends is a premium experiences company with six divisions operating worldwide – Global Planning, Global Sales, Hospitality, Global Partnerships, Global Merchandise, and Global Technology Solutions – offering clients and partners a 360-degree service solution platform to elevate their brand and execute their vision. Currently, Legends works with marquee clients across business verticals including professional sports, collegiate, attractions, entertainment, and conventions and leisure.

The ‘businesswire’ further stated that by leveraging all that Square’s ecosystem has to offer, SoFi Stadium is creating a multifaceted and dynamic approach to the gameday commerce experience that will delight and engage fans from pregame through overtime. As a fully cashless venue, SoFi Stadium selected Square’s ecosystem of products and services to power commerce and contactless payments across every checkout and purchase point, spanning hundreds of concession stands, bars, roving hawkers, and merchandise retail stores. Square’s integrated POS software and hardware enable fast, reliable and convenient transactions and help create safe, streamlined payment experiences for fans, including fast check-out speeds and reduced lines.

Asserted SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park Chief Technology Officer, Skarpi Hedinsson, “SoFi Stadium is a world-class facility and the largest stadium in the NFL. Maintaining that level of service requires selecting technology partners who can match that scale. Square is at the forefront of innovation across payment and transactions and shares our passion for incredible customer service. As a cashless venue, our partnership will offer fast, reliable and secure contactless payments for guests that help to create a safe and streamlined experience at SoFi Stadium.”

Square power

Here’s how SoFi Stadium uses Square’s powerful ecosystem of services to create compelling, omnichannel commerce experiences across the venue:

Commerce and Operations Software: Integrated Square software solutions including Point of Sale and Team Management offer rich data and sales insights in real-time, enabling stadium managers to better understand trends. This includes information like top-selling items and busiest purchasing times for all concessions, bars and hawkers, which empowers the stadium to make smart decisions, on the fly, to optimize staffing, inventory and promotions. Square for Retail powers merchandise locations with business analytics features like inventory and sales reports to maximize revenue opportunities throughout each game or event, while Square Team Management supports the employee experience, enabling quick and easy access to Squares POS, with unique permission sets that ensure enterprise-scale access controls throughout the system. Both are simple to learn and use, which makes hiring and training large stadium staffs easy for operators;
Square Hardware: The stadium uses more than 1,000 Square Register and Square Terminal units to power sales throughout the NFL’s largest venue. With separate seller- and buyer-facing displays, Square Register enables smoother, faster payment experiences for employees and fans alike. Additionally, Square Terminal’s handheld, all-in-one payment processing capabilities enable stadium hawkers to take card and contactless payments directly at fans’ seats. All hardware devices are completely integrated and allow the stadium to flexibly power special food and merchandise pop-ups at any location, for any type of event. Square Register and Square Terminal enable fans to pay in any way they prefer, including contactless transactions through tap credit cards or mobile wallets on smartphones and smartwatches, with payment transactions covered by Square’s best-of-breed payment card industry (PCI) compliance, privacy protection and security; and
API Integrations: Square’s Application Programming Interface (APIs) enable operators to integrate Square into any front-end fan experience or back-end data system, working seamlessly with any technology vision or enterprise architecture. For example, SoFi Stadium is leveraging Square’s Catalog API to manage inventory and product availability and inform mobile application and digital signage of menus at each concession stand. SoFi Stadium is also enlisting Square’s Orders API to transmit order details from Square POS directly to the kitchen, and Square’s Payments API to provide further business analytics.

Square’s platform also integrates with SoFi Stadium’s best-in-class partners for mobile application development, inventory management, kitchen display systems (KDS), and digital signage for a complete tech-advanced stadium. All in all, Square’s platform enables powerful system integrations between back-end and front-end user experiences across in-person, mobile and online.

Said Ashley Grech, Global Head of Sales at Square, “Square’s integrated products and platform enable sellers of all sizes to run their businesses, and as a proud partner of SoFi Stadium – the biggest and most advanced stadium in the country – we’re eager to continue to show what’s possible for stadiums and retail districts. Fan experience, fan safety and long-term fan engagement will remain top of mind for every sports and entertainment venue for many seasons to come. Square’s continued commitment to providing seamless, reliable and safe contactless commerce, as well as the data insights operators need to optimize their sales, makes us ideally suited to help organizations modernize and future-proof their operations.”

Observed Denise Taylor, President, Global Technology Solutions for Legends Entertainment, “SoFi Stadium is the most technologically advanced venue in the world, and we’re committed to keep it that way, which means we only wanted to work with partners who are thought leaders and committed to pushing the envelope with innovation. With Square, we were really excited about their commitment to continuous improvement and forward thinking development of their platform. Square is able to help us scale into the future, as the guest experience continues to evolve and we look to offer more mobile commerce solutions. We want fans to be able to enjoy a seamless guest engagement in a secure manner, and Square is the partner that enables SoFi Stadium to do that and change the way we all think about sports technology.”

Along with powering operations and payments for SoFi Stadium, Square is also the exclusive Point of Sale and Merchant Services partner for Hollywood Park and the 6,000-capacity YouTube Theater. This expansive agreement showcases Square’s ability and flexibility to build out stadiums and their surrounding districts and create first-class consumer commerce experiences. Partnering with SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park builds upon Square’s prior expertise powering experiential commerce for venues and organizations, including the Major League Baseball (MLB) team Washington Nationals, MLB Partner League team Ogden Raptors, American motorsport company Speedway Motorsports, the 257,325-capacity Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana (US), and more.

SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park partnered with Legends, a premium experiences company, in securing this partnership. In addition to operating SoFi Stadium Tours, Legends has been engaged throughout SoFi Stadium on hospitality, premium sales, retail, partnerships and naming rights, technology solutions, and project development.

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