Green Bay Packers are ending paper tickets this year, making electronic tickets permanent

Richard Ryman
Green Bay Press-Gazette

GREEN  BAY – The Green Bay Packers are making the switch to electronic tickets permanent. 

The team said Friday it would join other NFL teams in dropping paper tickets.

"This is part of the continued evolution of coming to a Packers game, attending events and traveling," said Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy. "We understand this will be a change for some of our fans, but we are ready to assist in the coming months as we all adjust to using only mobile tickets."

The Packers only needed tickets for two playoff games during the 2020 season because they did not have paying fans for regular-season games. They used electronic tickets for the two playoff games at Lambeau Field partly as a preventive measure against the spread of coronavirus and partly for efficiency. 

A Green Bay Packers helmet.

The NFL said on May 26 it would continue to employ enhanced sanitization protocols and rely on mobile ticketing as virus countermeasures. All 32 teams are expected to have elctronic tickets only this year. 

The Packers pointed out that Super Bowl LV had all-electronic tickets and the Milwaukee Bucks and Milwaukee Brewers also are entirely mobile.

The tickets are available now for season ticket holders on their Packers accounts and will be available each year as soon as the schedule is released. Fans may go to packers.com/tickets/mobile-ticketing for more information about mobile tickets and for answers to common questions.

While many professional sports teams had already switched to electronic ticketing, the Packers continued using paper tickets because a lot of their fans expected it. They used them as collector items and, it can be said, a lot of season ticket holders are older and not enamored of digital technology.

The Packers said they will host training sessions and publish video tutorials on packers.com to help guide fans who are not familiar with mobile ticketing. Season ticket holders who do not have a smartphone or an email address can call or visit the Packers ticket office for assistance. 

The Packers said they will mail commemorative souvenir tickets to season tickets holders after the season.

Digital tickets have a number of advantages, including being easier to sell on secondary marketplaces and easy to transfer from fan to fan. Fans using digital tickets must, however, make sure their mobile device does not lose power before they are ready to enter the stadium.

Teams and marketplaces also can more easily restrict how mobile tickets are used if they feel the need. For example, during last year's playoff games, tickets were not allowed to be resold or transferred. 

The Packers said mobile ticketing also allows the team to communicate directly and instantaneously with fans attending each game.

In addition to last year's playoff games, the Packers used mobile ticketing for Family Night, the Brown County lottery and the Paul McCartney concert in 2019. 

Paper tickets can be handed from fan to fan and can be easier to divide among members of a group, depending on the restrictions on digital tickets. But they also are easier to counterfeit or steal.

"We are looking forward to this transition helping cut down on fraud and ensure safe, securing ticketing at Lambeau Field," Murphy said. 

Contact Richard Ryman at (920) 431-8342 or rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at  @rrymanPG or  on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/