More than 6,000 fans use new facial recognition entry into Minute Maid Park for 2024 MLB Opening Day

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston Astros told ABC13 that about 6,000 fans participated in MLB Go-Ahead Entry to enter Minute Maid Park for Thursday's opening day game against the New York Yankees.

The program allows users to upload a photo of their face to the MLB Ballpark App and then enter the ballpark without having to stop and have a ticket scanned.

Most fans who went to Thursday's game still used their traditional digital ticket, which has become commonplace at games. Still, the Astros hope this facial recognition technology grows in popularity as the season progresses.

"You can walk in, and you don't even have to present a ticket," Houston Astros Vice President of Communications Gene Dias said. "It's a great way to expedite how quickly we can get fans into the ballpark."

One fan who spoke with ABC13 wasn't so optimistic about the technology.

"I love the Astros, but I'm not comfortable giving my face to any kind of program," Vanessa said.

Major League Baseball's website states the photo you upload into the MLB Ballpark app is used to create a "unique numerical token" associated with you.

MLB said any photo of you is deleted once that token is created.

Eyewitness News asked a surveillance security expert at a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C., how he feels about this new age of entering a sporting event.

"I don't think it's something that's inherently bad," Jake Laperruque of the Center of Democracy and Technology said. "It's important to ask what happens to these profiles."

Laperruque also stressed that a big issue he's seen with this technology is that it sometimes fails to identify women or people of color because it was largely developed using white males.

The Astros said they had a few "hiccups" on Thursday, but a lack of facial recognition based on gender or skin color wasn't one of them.

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