Case Study: Australian Open reduces wait times and speeds entry with Wicket

How Wicket Helped to Offset Long Wait Times at Melbourne Park for Thousands of Guests

The Australian Open, a major Grand Slam tennis tournament, faced significant challenges with long lines and wait times at its entrances due to the manual scanning of ticket barcodes. To enhance the fan experience and speed up entry, the organization partnered with vendor Wicket to implement their Express Entry system, which utilizes biometric facial recognition.

Wicket's solution involved deploying dedicated express lanes where enrolled fans could be identified and have their tickets redeemed in an average of five seconds. The system was integrated with Ticketmaster, allowing for simple opt-in and a frictionless entry process. This implementation resulted in over 22,000 fans enrolling and a 7x increase in usage year-over-year, successfully scaling express entry by 500% and dramatically improving crowd flow for Tennis Australia.

Australian Open

Gary Iakovidis

Director of Ticketing & Product Sales