Why tickets should NOT go paperless.

This blog is definitely a rant… but it is an important one… and one I think that many others (hopefully) agree with me on. It seems that every time I purchase a ticket these days, it is virtual. I have to buy it online, which in result sends me an email to download my ticket into my iPhone’s “mobile wallet.” Believe it or not, technology does not simplify everything, and I cannot think of a more crazy thing to make 100% virtual.

Even though virtual ticketing for sporting events, concerts, etc. has been in existence for a while, Covid has definitely ramped up their use. Every single sporting event I have been to since the start of Covid, such as Tar Heel football games and the ACC Tournament, have used virtual tickets that are scanned from my mobile wallet upon entrance. This has made no sense to me. If the goal is to be contactless, physical tickets were always contactless. I don’t think Covid is going to spread any differently if someone scans a piece of paper in my hand vs. a phone screen in my hand…. but I won’t go on that tangent in this blog.

Just recently, I learned from an employee that the Charlotte Hornets have switched to paperless tickets entirely. Although Covid might have been the reason that this started, it seemed like that was a direction that the Hornets were looking to make permanent. Their goal was to streamline everything through their app, including tickets, payment options, etc. I think this is a mistake.

You might be wondering why I am so mad over a literal piece of paper, but I do not think words can explain what a ticket can mean to someone. At both my home and Chapel Hill, tickets from my fun experiences cover portions of my walls. Not only is it a reminder of the fun things I have been able to experience, but the design and art on the tickets is usually dynamic and interesting. When everything is together on my wall, it sort of creates a collage of some of my interests.

I haven’t really even touched on the main reason tickets are so special: the NOSTALGIA! Even if you don’t buy anything at a game, don’t take any photos, don’t win…. the idea has always been “at least I have my ticket.” It is so nostalgic to pull out a storage box with old tickets and flip through them to see all of the adventures you have had… and not only see them, but feel them in your hands. Holding a ticket can elicit so many emotions and bring back so many memories: a thrilling win, a devastating loss, a night you got on the jumbotron, a night you went to an event with someone special… a night where a famous athlete or celebrity autographed your ticket. I cannot say this feeling is at all replicated when I scroll through my mobile wallet and see a bunch of QR codes.

(The most recent Super Bowl was the first Super Bowl in history to operate with no cash and no paper tickets. I could not imagine coming home from a freaking Super Bowl and not having my beautiful ticket as a souvenir!)

I have not even mentioned the problems with tickets living on a mobile phone. The issues can include: dead phones, forgotten passwords, no immediate access to tech help or troubleshooting, glitches, and so much more. (Also, believe it or not, not everyone has a smartphone! Don’t rob the, predominantly, seniors of their experiences!) In fact, when I traveled to Clemson to watch the Tar Heels, as detailed in my very first blog, one of my two virtual tickets did not work upon scanning. The ticket scanner kept saying it was invalid or had already been scanned. The fact that one of my tickets worked and not the other was super confusing, both to me and the arena staff. They were kind enough to let both of us in, but only because it was super limited capacity, and they knew potentially having an extra person in the arena would not matter. However, if that game had been held post-Covid and sold out, I would have had problems. (One could argue that paper tickets could get lost, but the easy solution to this, which has been done before, is for the user to have a mobile ticket as a back-up.)

I hope the future of tickets will remain somewhat physical, but this seems uncertain. I know for sure there are people in older generations who agree with me on this topic, but also, everyone I have talked to in my own generation agrees, as well. At the end of the day, I will always be an advocate for paper tickets, and I do not think my opinion can be changed on this one.