Cash will not be king when Levi’s Stadium reopens to fans.
The stadium is shifting to cashless payments for food, drinks, and merchandise.
"You can pay by credit card as you normally might. You can pay via a 49ers app where you use something like Apple Pay or Visa Pay within the app as well," explained Moon Javaid, Chief Strategy Officer for the 49ers.
The move is supposed to speed up transactions and minimize contact.
"A more ‘socially distanced’ transaction where you don’t have to hand something over to another individual for them to touch," said Javaid.
Most transactions happen during the 15 minutes before kickoff and during halftime, so speed is key for fans who do not want to miss out on any of the action.
"That’s going to be somewhat complex for people that have not gone through this experience or are not conversant with how this works," said Andy Dolish, sports marketing executive.
The cashless movement has been picking up steam over the last few years. Critics say it creates obstacles for low-income people who do not have bank accounts and therefore lack access to debit and credit cards. To help fans who only carry cash, team officials said they'd be setting up reverse ATMs where people can exchange cash for debit cards with no transaction fee.
But more and more institutions are getting rid of cash, including sporting venues.
"It’s just the direction everybody’s going," said Santa Rosa Press Democrat columnist Chuck Nevius. "It makes a lot of sense."
The 49ers have been planning to move to a cashless system for a while, but pushed up the plan due to COVID-19.