German Bundesliga football club FC Bayern Munich is set to move over to fully digital ticketing at Allianz Arena from the 2021-22 season.
Since March 2020, all home games at Bayern’s Allianz Arena stadium have been played without fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once fans are able to return to the 75,024-capacity stadium, the current UEFA Champions League holders plan to stop using paper tickets and put all ticketing online for 2021-22.
The mobile ticket and print@home formats, which have been in use for several years, will remain in place, and stadium visitors will have a choice.
FC Bayern deputy chairman Jan-Christian Dreesen said: “As sustainability, conservation of resources and reduction of CO2 emissions are central issues at FC Bayern and in ticketing, we have decided not to offer printed tickets such as the annual chip card or paper tickets for any future games in the Allianz Arena.
“As well as reducing the production of plastic and paper tickets, communication by e-mail eliminates around 350,000 printed letters that were previously sent by post. That is a valuable contribution to climate protection and resource conservation.”
Bayern Munich are currently poised to be crowned Bundesliga champions for the ninth straight season this weekend, sitting seven points clear at the top of the league with three games to play.
Germany is currently in the middle of a COVID-19 lockdown that includes a ban on large gatherings.
Last month, the German Football League (DFL) revealed that the revenue of clubs in the top-tier Bundesliga dropped by around 5.4% during the 2019-20 season, which was severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The DFL was forced to suspend the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga seasons in March 2020 as the pandemic took hold, meaning that the final nine match days were held behind closed doors.
Image: Richard Bartz / CC BY-SA 2.5 / Edited for size
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