How this tournament sold $15,000 worth of tickets at the door with Humanitix's Tap-to-Pay Box Office

The 2023 US Gaelic Athletic Association’s Finals Tournament was one of the first events in the world to run a Tap-to-Pay box office, using the Humanitix for Hosts app. ​​Humanitix’s Tap-to-Pay feature is integrated as part of this app, and allows event hosts to sell tickets and take payments at the door on mobile devices without the need for payment terminals.

Michael Schaefer, Chairman of the USGAA SW Division, was excited to try out Tap-to-Pay for door sales.

“A big chunk of our ticket sales happen at the door, so we jumped at the chance to use Humanitix’s Tap-to-Pay box office. It worked like magic! Not only did we save time and money by not having to hire payment hardware and train our staff on how to use it, we also eliminated huge queues and made entry to the event so smooth for our 4000+ patrons.”

About the event

The US Gaelic Athletic Association SouthWest Division is the largest geographical division committed to building inclusive, competitive and community-driven clubs. They used Humanitix and our Tap-to-Pay functionality for the 2023 USGAA Finals Tournament. The 3-day tournament played host to 2,000+ adult players from all over the United States and Canada to compete in the Irish sports of Gaelic Football, Hurling and Camogie. Held at the Sandstone Ranch Sports Complex in beautiful Longmont, Colorado, it was full-on festivities including 5 regulation-size pitches, a beer garden, a multitude of food trucks and an exclusive VIP area.

Selling more tickets with Tap-to-Pay

Tap-to-Pay allowed Michael and his team to take contactless payments on mobile devices without the need for separate payment terminals. Almost $15,000 worth of tickets were sold through Tap-to-Pay on the day of the event, comprising almost 10% of total ticket sales.

Robust reporting

“Other than it being so easy and convenient to take sales at the door with just our phones, this setup also hugely improved our reporting requirements. Previously box-office reporting was extremely limited and difficult to reconcile with the rest of the ticket sales. With box office being integrated seamlessly with the Humanitix platform, we were now able to capture which players bought tickets at the door, which club they were from etc, and compare this with the data we had on the rest of the attendees.”

Eliminating queues at the event

Michael was also impressed with how the Humanitix for Hosts app sped up the check-in process.

“Individuals and clubs could buy tickets, and with clubs we could check-in the entire group at the door in one click - it saved us so much time.”

The ease of checking people in via the scanning feature on the Humanitix app, combined with Tap-to-Pay sales on the same app, meant there were no lines at the frontgate of the event.

Quick and reliable support

To top it all, Michael loved the human and local customer support offered by Humanitix.

“The Humanitix team were always available whenever we needed help or had any questions. Their ability to show up for clients and quickly respond is priceless.”

About Tap-to-Pay

Up until now, event organizers have relied on dedicated payment terminals to process on-the-spot payments at the door. Humanitix's innovative "Tap-to-Pay" feature eliminates the need for these cumbersome devices. With just a smartphone, event organizers of all shapes and sizes can seamlessly and efficiently take contactless payments without having to invest in extra equipment. In the US, “Tap-to-Pay” is available on both Apple and Android devices via the Humanitix App.

“We’re stoked to be the first ticketing platform to introduce “Tap-to-Pay” for all our users globally,” said our co-founder Adam McCurdie.

“This solves a massive pain point for organizers having to spend additional resources on payment hardware. With the added financial pressure in the competitive events landscape right now, we hope this innovation takes the weight of ticketing and payments off the organizers’ shoulders so they can focus on delivering the best experiences for their guests.”

You can read more about how Tap-to-Pay works and the device requirements here.

About the Host

The US Gaelic Athletic Association (USGAA) is the governing body responsible for promoting the sports of hurling, camogie and Gaelic football in the United States (except NYC). There are over 130 adult and youth clubs under their administration.

Clubs participate in Divisional competitions to qualify for the National Finals in their respective sport and grade of competition. Presently, Gaelic Games are being organized and played in approximately 50 cities across the US. The USGAA also maintains a close relationship with GAA units in the neighboring regions of Canada, New York and the Caribbean.