From AI to AR, Twins take a swing at improving fan experience at Target Field

Twins fans might not realize it, but robot eyes will be watching them.

As one of several tech upgrades the baseball team made to Target Field ahead of Friday afternoon's home opener against the Astros, an artificial intelligence (AI) weapons-detection system will replace the usual metal detectors and manual bag searches for those entering the downtown Minneapolis stadium.

The goal: No more hordes of people enduring long waits that threaten to make them miss the first pitch.

"The fan experience is great because we make lines ago away," said Peter George, chief executive of Boston-based Evolv Technology, which developed the system. "People can get right into the stadium and then enjoy a hot dog or beer or whatever they want to do."

At all entrances, the system will screen fans for weapons on entry, no emptying of pockets necessary. Fans will walk between the 6-foot image scanners while nearby security guards monitor a live camera feed on tablets. From those tablets, the system alerts security personnel to objects that pose a threat.

The system is smart enough to determine the difference in shape between a firearm and a cellphone and can take a photo of the person carrying the potential threat. That prompts a security guard to pull that person aside for a manual check.

"We've spent a lot of time to find ways to make that process more efficient with fans, for late arrivals and bag checks," Twins President and Chief Executive Dave St. Peter said. "This should allow us to move people through our gate entry in a more seamless manner."

Myles Lukoskie, 41, of Shoreview, has been a Twins season ticket holder since 2010, the year the team moved into Target Field. Though he uses an expedited entry for season-ticket holders, away from general ticket entry points, any system that moves fans into the stadium more swiftly is a positive for him.

"If it's a technology that's sort of been proven, and it's worked in other areas," he said, "I'd say for a time savings to get people in it, I'm all for it."

Target Field is the first sports venue to use the technology in Minnesota. Evolv's entry system has already been in use at the Mall of America as well as 30 sports stadiums across the United States, including baseball stadiums in Philadelphia, Houston, Pittsburgh and Boston and the New York Mets stadium.

The Twins have invested millions of dollars in technology the past two years, adding sensory technology and automation in addition to AI. The team's executives said moves like this will differentiate the Twins fan experience and appeal to a younger fan base, something Major League Baseball as a whole is seeking.

The team started last year introducing augmented reality (AR) to fans attending games at Target Field that allowed them to layer their ballpark experience with computer-generated images and sounds. All fans had to do was open an app from Minneapolis-based ARound and point their smartphones in different directions to open up multi-user AR games such as BatterUp, Blockbuster and Fishing Frenzy. Many viewed it as one of the first instances of AR implemented in a live sports venue.

There's a more tangible change this year in the $29.5 million upgrade of the Twins' main scoreboard, now 76% larger and the organization's most extensive renovation in its 14-year history at the stadium.

Also starting this season, the Twins will implement AI developed to automatically remove copyrighted music from video clips, like postgame interviews on the field or inside the clubhouse. Previously, the Twins couldn't share those clips on social media because of copyrighted music in the background.

The developer, Washington, D.C.-based Whitebalance, recently completed the Twins' 13-week startup accelerator, operated in partnership with accelerator programmer and venture fund Techstars from the Ford Center in the North Loop. The Twins launched the accelerator, the first of its kind in Minnesota, in 2021 to enable the organization to embed itself at the intersection of technology, sports and entertainment.

For mobile concessions orders, the Twins have upgraded the MLB Ballpark app to bring in CHEQ, a Washington -based software company that improves payment processing and ordering. The Twins have also installed express concessions-ordering kiosks around the field.

There's also now AI that answers fan questions submitted on the team's website and the Ballpark app, automates single-game ticket sales and tracks scores for real-time sports betting and fantasy sports games played on the Ballpark app while inside Target Field.

And proving there is technology for everything, there is even a new contactless vending machine for those who want a very unusual souvenir — a box of Target Field dirt.

"Over time, I suspect we'll see more of this," St. Peter said of the upgrades. "Gate entry, but also concessions, merchandise, broadcasting. All the above will be on the table over time."