Delta Air Lines is extending its sponsorship as the official airline of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United in a 10-year deal.
As part of the upgraded sponsorship with Delta as a founding partner, the stadium in downtown Atlanta is rebranding its biometric entry lanes that launched as a pilot last year. The Express Entry lanes are being renamed Delta Fly Through Lanes.
At the lanes on the right sides of Gates 1 and 2 at the stadium, ticket holders can sign up to use facial recognition to enter the stadium along with other guests in their party, instead of having to scan tickets or phones. While some sports venues have Clear lanes, the express lanes at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium use a different biometrics system.
Atlanta-based Delta already uses facial recognition at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for identity verification of passengers who opt in at the international terminal, at a domestic terminal lower-level PreCheck lobby and in recently added Biometric ID bag drop lines at its check-in counters on the main level of the domestic terminal. Biometrics are also used to verify identity at airport security checkpoints.
“We’re for anything that accelerates mobility,” said Delta Chief Marketing Officer Tim Mapes. The stadium and teams are also “competing against television and the ability to stay home and watch the game. You have to create a game-day experience that draws people out of their living rooms and their man caves into a facility” with minimal hassle, he said.
Delta has been the official airline of the Falcons, Atlanta United and the stadium since 2017, and the new agreement extends its sponsorship in a longer-term deal.
“We both are in a business that connects people,” said Tim Zulawski, president of AMB Sports and Entertainment, Arthur Blank’s organization that’s the parent company of the Falcons, Atlanta United and Mercedes-Benz Stadium operating rights. Delta and AMBSE did not disclose the value of the sponsorship.
Delta also carries the Falcons on charter flights, along with a number of other football teams.
As part of the sponsorship extension, the stadium will continue to have a Delta Sky360Club and Delta Sky360 Terrace. The airline also rents the stadium for company events and supports three honeybee hives installed last year on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium campus at the corner of Northside Drive and M.L.K. Jr. Drive.
“We certainly intend to be a long-term partner,” Mapes said. He said Delta’s sports sponsorships associate the airline with a “commitment to excellence and performance... there’s just so many parallels of winning in business, esprit de corps.”
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