One of England’s top football clubs has announced that its stadium will be going completely cashless as of March 1, 2020.
In a bid to enhance the matchday experience for its fans, as well as the overall efficiency at the 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium, Arsenal has chosen to equip all bars, restaurants, kiosks, programme sellers and retail outlets within the stadium with cashless technologies. All of the above outlets will only be accepting card payment.
In the past, the stadium has opted to go cashless just on matchdays, also applicable to non-matchday events and venue hire.
Retail stores and programme sellers outside of the venue will continue to accept cash however, as will catering kiosk Chapman’s.
The Premier League club said that the decision arrived following in-depth research which analysed the spending habits of the club’s fans, the overall matchday experience, as well as other venues across the UK which have already gone cashless.
“Ninety-three per cent of our stadium transactions are currently made via card payment,” said Tom McCann, Arsenal’s venue director. “By moving to a fully cashless operation, our fans can expect to experience increased speed and shorter queue times at our bars and kiosks.
“Over the forthcoming matchdays and events, we will promote the move to a cashless stadium to prepare our fans for this change on 1st March.”
Other Premier League teams have already rolled out the shift. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, home of the Gunners’ north-London rivals, is already cashless, while Manchester City negotiated a deal with cashless payment company Tappit in October 2018. Liverpool hopped on the cashless bandwagon more recently in October, when it implemented a system at Anfield on the eighth matchday of the league championship.
Arsenal’s cashless system at the Emirates stadium will be premiered when the team faces West Ham United, due on March 7.
