Rays' Tropicana Field becomes 1st cashless venue in North America

The Tampa Bay Rays will make history this upcoming season when their home ballpark Tropicana Field will become the first cashless sports venue in North America.

The team announced the decision in a joint statement with hospitality partner Levy on Friday, according to Eduardo A. Encina of The Tampa Bay Times.

It means cash will no longer be accepted at the box office, the hot dog stand, or anywhere in between. Instead, fans will need to use credit cards, gift cards, or other electronic payment methods. The only exceptions will be roaming gift card vendors available on site and stadium retail locations.

The team says the change should help eliminate lines and make the stadium more efficient. And it's not a decision that happened overnight.

"It’s something we’ve been looking at for a number of years, and the whole industry has been moving towards paperless transactions, the whole digital ticketing revolution that began five or six years ago," Rays Vice President of Strategy & Development William Walsh said.

Prior to this, no major sports venue has gone entirely cash-free, though it represents a paradigm shift that has already begun elsewhere, including several European soccer stadiums.