MLB team introduces cell phone-based virtual tickets

The Washington Nationals, as part of a joint venture with tickets.com, just unveiled a fully operational delivery system that will allow fans to receive (and share) game tickets via cell phone multimedia message throughout the 2007 season.

This technology, often discussed as a potential new mobile application with wide-ranging capabilities, allows the team to deliver a seat-specific bar code to individual phones, which will then be scanned as fans progress into the stadium. These “virtual” tickets are also easily transferred among friends and family members, which could eliminate lengthy waits at the more traditional Will Call window.

The Nationals become the first consumer-oriented organization in the United States to offer a full roll-out of MMS-based event tickets; the system is accessible via the team’s website, and is part of a digital overhaul of the entire ticket-buying and -selling structure, intended to help push the fan experience into the 21st century.

A large-scale adaptation of this kind of technology carries exciting implications, and could establish the personal cell phone as a sort of customizable access pass for any and all events, eliminating the need to print and provide paper tickets.