On a night when Russell Wilson returned to Seattle and was largely booed by the Seahawks faithful, fans lined up at the team’s stadium for a new high-tech concession stand.
Lumen Field becomes the third professional sports venue in Seattle to feature Amazon’s cashier-less “Just Walk Out” technology in a food and beverage store. The new District Market, located on the south end of the stadium across from the fan deck, will also use Amazon One, the company’s palm-scanning technology, making Lumen Field the first and only place in the NFL to feature both innovations.
Walk Out fans are billed as a frictionless way to avoid concession lines and return to their seats quickly. Professional sports franchises across the country are experimenting with new technology from Amazon and other competitors, releasing check-free stores.
Fans can enter, shop, leave and pay without having to interact with any food handlers or cashiers. The retail technology used in Amazon Go convenience stores, and some full-size fresh grocery stores, relies on embedded cameras and sensors to track what customers are grabbing. When the payment is submitted, it is connected to a scanned credit card or a biometric scan of the palm on Amazon’s side.
The new store was so popular on Monday that a line would form due to the jam of people waiting to leave. Enthusiasts are expected to max out on any alcoholic beverages they drink, and many have been shown to be unaware of this.
But this line was much smaller in size and time compared to the lines at other concession stands where people waited to do things the old-fashioned way. We counted 30 to 40 fans leaving the store every minute during peak hours, before kick-off – a rate that would be hard to match in a typical stadium deal.
The Seahawks’ first game of the season will already be a sordid affair on “Monday Night Football.” But when Wilson and his new team, the Denver Broncos, returned home, fans were fired up before the game, especially when they loaded up on beer and food.
Permanent orange Broncos jerseys — many with Wilson’s name and No. 3 — have moved in and out of the district market. “Let Russ Cook” was the mantra that two men in chef hats started in Seattle to get Wilson to dominate the games.
But most of the 68,000 fans sported Seahawks colors, including a man with his own chef hat and a “Let’s Cook Yourself” sign.
There is some cooking or heating in the district market, but most of the space in the store is dedicated to beer, wine, cider and non-alcoholic drinks. There are a few shelves for chips, peanuts, popcorn and candy, and the self-serve hot food bar has selections inspired by the stadium’s neighbors in Seattle’s International District — char siu BBQ pork ($10.49); Crab Rangoon ($11); Bulgogi Hot Dog ($13.99); and hot and sour soup ($9.49).
Amazon has licensed the technology to use in places like stadiums and airport stores. Lumen Field joins Seattle’s two sports venues with Just Walk Out. Introduced in May at a new “Walking Market,” it will be used in three stores at the Climate Promise Arena, home of the Seattle Kraken, and at T-Mobile Park, home of the Mariners.
Sailors are “excited” about the cashless technology experiment, the Sports Business Journal reported last month, citing high turnover and other benefits, such as freeing up space in the concourse, around the time long lines of people waiting to buy food and drink.
Football fans we spoke to on Monday said they were happy with their experience at the store. Some wonder if they’ll even be billed for their items, or how exactly Amazon will track their activity. But the efficiency of the process seems to outweigh any privacy concerns.
In addition to the new retail experience, the Seahawks and Lumen Field rolled out other new tech for the season opener.
- Two new giant video boards will now be displayed on either side of the north end of the stadium near the Hawks’ cage seating area. The “Mitsubishi Pixel Pitch Diamond Vision displays are 39.90 feet high by 70.34 feet wide – twice the size of the stadium’s previous video boards.
- Thanks to the “Verizon Powered 12 Cam,” fans were able to see themselves on those screens. Fans can scan a QR code on the big screen and then take a selfie video while queuing up for live viewing inside the stadium.
- New photo-op kiosks in stadiums called Lumen Lens feature augmented reality technology that simulates fans taking pictures with their favorite players. They are located in Touchdown City Room 103 and 331.
- Players are taking to the field replacing the old “Hawk Head” with a shiny exterior and immersive technology on the inside.
