Braves, A's, Mariners latest MLB teams to add express entrances

NEW YORK -- Three more major league teams are emphasizing life in the fast line.

Atlanta, Oakland and Seattlewill open express entrances to members of CLEAR, expanding the fast-entry lanes to nine of the 30 big league ballparks.

CLEAR is used at 24 U.S. airports to speed passage through security and opened at Yankee Stadium and Coors Field in 2015. It expanded to Marlins Park and Citi Field the following season and added Detroit's Comerica Park in 2017.

"Sports venues are starting to look more and more like airports from a security and experience perspective," Lauren Stangel, CLEAR's head of sports and events, said Thursday. "Baseball stadiums in particular, you have 40,000 to 50,000 people entering through the gates almost 50 percent of which come between 15 minutes before and first pitch."

All 30 major league ballparks have had metal detectors at fan gates since the start of the 2015 season. That has led to backups as fans enter some stadiums.

"That looked very similar to what JFK can look like on early Monday mornings," Stangel said.

CLEAR makes its stadium access available for free for those who sign up.

It is available for airport use for a $179 annual fee, with discounted prices for members of Delta's SkyMiles program. The company plans to experiment this year in Washington state with biometric identification of fingertips that prove age verification for alcohol purchase and hopes at some point to use fingertip identification for stadium entry.

"We believe your identity should serve as your wallet and your ticket," she said.