New data shows self-checkout technology is cutting concession wait times by nearly 80% while increasing throughput and repeat purchases at major college football venues.
Stadiums across major U.S. college football programs are rapidly transforming into some of the most advanced retail environments in sports, and most fans don’t even realize it.
New performance data from VisioLab reveals that leading Power Five college football venues who deployed the AI-powered self-checkout solution recognized a 400% increase in checkout speed this season as compared to traditional stadium point-of-sale solutions, fundamentally reshaping how fans buy food and drinks on gameday.
Across 50,000 concession transactions analyzed, fans checked out in a median of just 13 seconds, more than 4x faster than traditional stadium checkout workflows. Over the course of the season, this faster checkout time collectively returned the equivalent of 2,700 football quarters to fans, giving them back what matters most: time spent watching the game instead of standing in line.
This shift represents a bigger industry story: stadiums are evolving from traditional concession environments into high-speed, data-enabled retail ecosystems.
Unlike typical retail environments, stadiums must handle extreme bursts of demand with thousands of fans converging at once, huge halftime surges, limited staffing windows, and the expectation of speed.
“Stadiums are becoming some of the smartest retail environments in the world,” said Iwo Gernemann, VisioLab President and Co-Founder. “They operate under peak pressure, huge demand, and zero tolerance for friction; so when technology works here, it proves it can work anywhere. What we’re seeing now is stadium retail modernizing faster than most people realize.”
What makes this transformation unique is that it enhances the experience without demanding behavior change. Fans still walk up, place items, pay, and go – it just happens dramatically faster.
Across analyzed college football venues, the data shows fans embraced the experience, with a significant double digit increase in repeat customer rate – representing fans returning to the same stand for multiple purchases in a single game – which signals reduced friction and fan preference.
At the same time, VisioLab-powered marketplaces sustained 6x higher throughput per hour during peak gameday windows vs. traditional point-of-sale experiences, proving the technology can handle the most intense moments of in-stadium demand without slowing fans down.
As the sports industry accelerates toward automation, digitization, and data-driven operations, stadium concessions are quickly emerging as a proving ground for next-generation retail.
The 2025 season data shows that when technology is designed to remove friction, it can deliver measurable gains across fan experience, operational performance, and revenue outcomes.
With momentum building and more deployments underway, VisioLab expects the stadium retail landscape will continue evolving to become faster, smarter, and more fan-centric than ever.
Schedule a demo to learn more about how VisioLab self-checkout works in high-volume stadium environments.
