Perennial Bundesliga champions Bayern München have announced that they will show paper tickets the red card and go green with digital ticketing in the Allianz Arena for the 2021-22 season (assuming fans are let back in of course!) - an innovation that will come as a bitter blow to football romantics and printed ticket collectors.
Bayern's vice-chairman, Jan-Christian Dreesen, is less sentimental about the changes than traditional matchday fans however and has been quick to outline the need to develop a new way of managing resources. "Sustainability, conservation of resources and reduction of CO2 emissions are crucial aspects in ticketing 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."
In addition to the benefits regarding sustainability, Bayern say the new format will make it simpler for fans to manage their tickets and parking passes with everything stored in a password-protected online 'ticketing centre' immediately after booking. It will also eliminate shipping costs and losses as event admissions can be recalled by the registered ticket holder 24/7.