The paper game ticket is becoming a thing of the past. Here’s what teams are missing by going all-digital

Most MLB teams, including the Cubs, have gone to all-digital ticketing. You can get a paper Cubs ticket… sometimes… depending on the circumstances. This began after the pandemic shut ballparks to fans in 2020.

The last year the Cubs issued paper season tickets to fans was 2019, and Wrigley Field — plus most other MLB parks — went cashless in 2021 when parks re-opened to fans. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Cashless was better for teams, who didn’t have to handle cash (and anecdotally, I heard reports that some rogue employees were stealing cash), and for fans, as long as you have your phone, you can’t forget your ticket.

There have been some glitches. Last September, as I reported here , the MLB Ballpark app got hacked and quite a number of fans, including Cubs fans, lost tickets as a result. Most, though not all, of those tickets were recovered, but as I suggested in that September 2025 article, MLB revamped the Ballpark app and began 2-factor authentication .

That’s a must when you have apps with payment information and potentially thousands of dollars worth of tickets stored (as a season ticket holder would). But here’s the thing. A game ticket isn’t just something that admits you to a stadium.