By Jeff Domansky, Feb 5, 2021
Kickoff is just a couple of days away for Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Florida. This year, masks of a different kind from the football helmets on the field will proliferate in the stands along with contactless payments.
The pandemic complicated NFL plans for the biggest sports event of the year. The NFL is making extraordinary efforts to protect the 25,000 fans who will attend the game between hometown favorites Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the powerful Kansas City Chiefs.
The NFL’s will distribute mandatory K 95 masks and hand sanitizers to fans who will be expected to maintain social distance in the 65,000-seat stadium. Among the fans will be 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers given free tickets to thank them for their service.
Visa kicks off contactless payments & small business digital support
As the NFL’s official payment technology partner, Visa plays an important role with fans, festivities, and Tampa area businesses.
Part of Visa’s game plan to help small businesses thrive is a one-day offer that will eliminate some costs associated with getting online and accepting digital payments – a value of over $10,000 per small business.
Visa’s small business digital payment management platform, Authorize.net, will waive monthly gateway fees for an account’s lifespan, along with transaction fees for the first 100,000 transactions of new US and Canada customers signing up on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb 7.
“The resiliency of small businesses is inspiring, but there is work to do to help them recover and thrive. The Authorize.Net offer extends Visa’s commitment to digitally enable businesses and helps alleviate burdens by minimizing some recurring operational costs,” said Carleigh Jaques, senior vice president, and general manager of Visa’s Authorize.net.
“While we have rallied behind our small businesses all season, Super Bowl Sunday is an opportunity to give small businesses support that could last a lifetime,” she added.
Visa’s small business playbook
Visa’s Super Bowl playbook set out to support small business in Tampa in advance of the game. Visa’s Street Teams visited over 2,500 small businesses in Tampa to distribute contactless point-of-sale tool kits and digital transformation tips – part of its commitment to help digitally enable 50 million global small businesses.
The company also gave game and Taste of NFL @Home tickets to Black Girl Ventures for distribution to local Black women-owned businesses in Tampa.
During the NFL regular season, Visa’s marketing campaigns encouraged fans to shop locally, focusing on Black-owned businesses disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The company also teamed up with the San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets, and New York Giants to give away grants totaling $60,000 to support Black-owned small businesses in New York and Santa Clara.
A new company Super Bowl TV spot features New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, encouraging fans to shop local and support small businesses.
It has actively promoted contactless payments with merchants and consumers. Visa’s Back to Business Study, January 2021 shows 82% of small businesses have adjusted the way they operate to meet the demand for digital payments, led by selling online (43%) and accepting contactless payments (39%).
Who are you cheering for?
In case you’re wondering, the Chiefs are 3.5-point favorites to beat Tom Brady and the Bucs for the Super Bowl title.
Meanwhile, fans will be making contactless payments for snacks and souvenirs and, hopefully, wearing their masks as well. We hope these extraordinary pandemic plans will prevent Super Bowl LV from becoming a COVID-19 super spreader event.
For more information on simplified payments and how small businesses can benefit from digital transformation and take advantage of Visa’s one-day offer or find out more, visit Authorize.Net and sign up.
Photos courtesy AP, Visa, PaymentsNEXT
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