Australian Open gets Wicket face biometrics for express entry

Fans attending this year’ Australian Open (AO) tennis tournament must agree to be monitored by facial recognition cameras, under a new clause added to the Grand Slam’s terms and conditions.

“By entering the tournament site,” says a report in The Age, “patrons acknowledge that security cameras which ‘may incorporate facial recognition technology’ will be used in order to ‘enhance security and patron safety’.”

The terms and conditions specify that the latter includes, “without limitation, to assist in identifying and denying entry to, or ejecting, persons who have been removed or denied entry to the AO under these conditions (including persons who M&OP and TA reasonably believe it is in the best interests of the safety, security or integrity of the AO to do so), for other law enforcement purposes and contact tracing.”

The rather broad language in “other law enforcement purposes” will raise some eyebrows among human rights advocates. Some presume the change is in response to the controversy over retail chain Bunnings’ use of facial recognition without obtaining consent to collect customers’ biometric.

Wicket deployment strictly for ticketing, fan experience 

But it is also part of a wider embrace of biometric ticketing for reducing friction at sports and live event venues. While the terms and conditions address security use cases, the Australian Open’s biometric upgrade also includes Wicket’s opt-in AO Express Entry lanes for attendees who want to skip long lines.

The biometric ticketing system, which uses a selfie for identity verification against a registered Ticketmaster account, has been finding its way into venues across the sporting spectrum. Massachusetts-based Wicket has deployed face biometrics in every major North American sports league.

Its biggest success of the past year has been in the National Football League (NFL). The company has partnered with the Cleveland Browns franchise on a number of innovative fan experience use cases; hot dog recognition technology for concessions purchases is a favorite. It is also providing facial authentication at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium – a leading-edge “smart stadium” which is experimenting with augmented reality and other tech for enhanced fan experience. And it saw its first league-wide rollout, in providing biometrics for credentialing and access control at all 30 NFL stadiums.

Most recently, Wicket deployed Express Entry at two major U.S. college football events, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville. Its footprint in college football is growing, as evidenced by a case study posted to LinkedIn, outlining its initial two game face biometrics deployment for student entry at the University of Florida.

Trust depends on being clear about who does what with biometric data

The Australian Open express entry deployment follows a smaller initiative last year, allowing biometric entry for corporate guests. So far, there have been a few technical hiccups with the wider public deployment in 2025 – a few malfunctioning iPads, mainly.

But the larger issues at play are more complex: trust, culture and regulation.

Many fans remain wary of sharing their sensitive biometric data, fearing it will be shared or stolen and used for malicious purposes. While attitudes are changing, widespread confusion about how the facial recognition ticketing system works does not help alleviate concerns.

For the AO as for other integrations, Wicket doesn’t store facial data. The biometrics providers’ job is to translate a facial scan into a mathematical code. Facial matching happens locally on site at the device level, with all facial data housed in a secure cloud owned by Tennis Australia.

Wicket’s Chief Operating Officer Jeff Boehm has called the firm “data stewards” that enable teams to provide a service. But under the terms of the deal, the teams or league partners own the data.

In the Browns’ case, the team has been explicit about wanting to build trust with fans by ensuring data is only ever used for the purpose for which it has been collected, and never shared. The Age says it has reached out to Tennis Australia to inquire about their intentions for the data.

Regardless, suspicions will likely remain until trust is codified in the form of regulations, such as those rolling out in Europe under the EU’s AI Act.

Those will also have to be communicated to fans clearly and effectively. Because, as the Bunnings case shows, transparency can be the slim difference between a customer win and a privacy scandal.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometric ticketing  |  biometrics  |  Express Entry  |  face biometrics  |  facial authentication  |  selfie biometrics  |  Wicket