Modernising the Home of Cricket

Project overview

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the owners of Lord’s Cricket Ground, identified a critical need to modernise their digital fan experience. The goal was to rebuild the existing app to create a seamless, go-to digital destination for fans attending events at the world’s most iconic cricket ground. After a successful partnership with InCrowd to launch the Inside Lord’s membership proposition, MCC sought to leverage more industry-leading technology to transform venue entry and fan engagement ahead of the new cricket season.

Challenges

The MCC faced several significant challenges with their legacy infrastructure, beginning with outdated technology centered around a Single Sign-On (SSO) system that was falling short in meeting modern technical standards for data sharing or third-party integration.

This technological gap contributed to limited data visibility, as traditional ticketing methods provided little information regarding the actual attendees beyond the primary purchaser. Furthermore, managing ticket distribution for high-volume events, hospitality, and corporate partners had become a manually intensive process prone to friction and complex logistics.

Finally, any new solution had to overcome persistent connectivity issues around the venue, ensuring reliable performance in high-density stadium environments where mobile signals are often intermittent or non-existent.

Key Project Objectives

The project was driven by several core strategic objectives:‍

Seamless Venue Entry: Deliver a robust mobile ticketing solution to facilitate effortless entry and ticket sharing.‍

Data-Driven Insights: Maximise the capture of marketable 1st-party data for all attendees, not just the primary ticket purchaser.‍

Operational Efficiency: Reduce costs associated with physical ticket printing and postage while simplifying the management of large groups and hospitality.‍

Enhanced Fan Experience: Provide fans with a personalised event day companion that offers more than just a digital ticket.‍

Technical Modernisation: Implement a modern and robust SSO solution to create a central source of truth for user accounts and enable easier third-party integrations.

Delivery

InCrowd delivered a comprehensive app ecosystem, featuring a native mobile ticket wallet integrated via the SeatGeek SDK for secure, near-instant updates and offline access to tickets. Central to the technical infrastructure is the Cortex SSO integration, a leading independent product that aligns with current standards to decouple MCC from individual suppliers while centralising user data.

The official MCC app also acts as a personalised event companion with interactive maps, and match information,, as well as a suite of first-party data tools, including built-in forms, polls, and sponsored content, specifically designed to capture fan preferences and reward engagement.

Results

The implementation of the new Lord’s venue and ticketing app and SSO infrastructure has positioned MCC at the forefront of sports technology:

Proven Scalability: The solution is built to handle high-volume footfall, drawing on InCrowd's experience delivering 100% mobile-ticketed events for major tournaments like The Hundred and ICC for the World Test Championship Final.

Increased Marketability: By capturing data from all ticket holders through the sharing process, MCC can now target 100% of their active app user base without relying solely on marketing opt-ins.

Improved Security: The digital wallet provides advanced anti-touting measures by tracking and restricting unauthorised ticket movement.

Enhanced Fan Satisfaction: Fans benefit from a "no-panic" entry experience with all match-day needs, from tickets to F&B to wayfinding, contained within a single, reliable app.