Thousands of people lined up outside Citi Field in Queens, New York, on Wednesday to watch the Mets take on the Orioles. But outside the ticket booth, a handful of protesters handed out flyers. They were there to protest a recent program by Major League Baseball, one that is increasingly common in professional sports: the use of facial recognition on fans.
Facial recognition companies and their clients argue that these systems save time, and therefore money, by shortening queues at stadium entrances. However, skeptics argue that surveillance tools are never entirely secure, make it easier for police to obtain information about fans, and encourage “mission creep” in which surveillance technology becomes more common or even necessary.
MLB’s facial recognition program, called Entrance with green lightallows participating fans to go through a separate security line, typically shorter than other queues. Fans download the MLB Ballpark app, submit a selfie and have their faces taken at a camera kiosk at the stadium entrance.
Six MLB teams Participating in Go-Ahead Entry include the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals.
Some MLB teams, including the Mets, have their own facial recognition programs for express entry. The Mets have been using facial recognition company Shutter for its Mets Entry Express program since 2021. The Cleveland Guardians, similarly, have been using technology from the company Clear at their ballpark, Progressive Field, Since 2019.
Neither the Mets, MLB nor Wicket immediately responded to WIRED’s requests for comment.
The National Football League has also begun to use Shutter Facial recognition for fast entry. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a post X that the league-wide program, at least currently, is only available to “team/game day personnel, vendors and media,” not fans. Cleveland Browns and Tennessee TitansThey do, however, have facial recognition entry systems that fans can use. (News of the NFL’s expanded use of facial recognition is still pending.) caused confusion in Facebook and unknownwhere some people thought facial recognition would be required in the stadiums of all 32 NFL teams).
At Citi Field on Wednesday, the Mets’ express entry line was lightly used, perhaps five people every five minutes or so. There was never a line. The main security lines, though longer by comparison, took only about five minutes.
The protesters at Citi Field represented some of the 11 organizations that reported an open letter The letter argues against the use of facial recognition systems in stadiums, including Fight for the Future, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Amnesty International. The letter argues that “facial recognition not only poses unprecedented threats to people’s privacy and security, but is also completely unnecessary.” Activists outside Citi Field on Wednesday handed out flyers to passersby with information about authorized entry, declaring in all caps: “WE SAY FACIAL RECOGNITION AT SPORTING EVENTS IS A FAILURE.” This was not their first protest on the issue; organizers of Fight for the Future have also organized a protest last year at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies, to protest the introduction of facial recognition.