With just a few weeks of the football season gone,
Manchester City Football Club is already reaping the benefits of a
smartcard system it implemented during the summer at its new
stadium.
The club, which started playing at the City of Manchester Stadium
in August, rolled out the smartcard system, which runs on an IBM
eServer iSeries platform, to improve its understanding of customers
and help to drive up revenue.
The system links a Fortress access system to the club's ticketing
and customer relationship management system from Software4Sport.
Fans hold a smartcard, known as a Citycard, over a card reader
fitted at each turnstile when they enter the stadium.
Every time the Citycard is used, the information is recorded on
Fortress GB's Smart Stadium Management Server, and is presented at
the stadium's control room, allowing the club to know which fan
entered the stadium, when and through which turnstile.
The benefits have been twofold. Fans have seen entry times halved,
and the club has improved security as the microchip on the cards
has made them more difficult to forge than traditional paper
tickets.
The second phase of the project will integrate further applications
to the card, such as loyalty schemes and an electronic purse.
First Division club Millwall also implemented a smartcard system
for this season and expects it to help in a crackdown on
hooliganism.