I Tried Paying With Cash at a Stadium and This Happened!

What happens when you try to use cash—literal U.S. legal tender—at a Major League Baseball game?

You get rejected.

In a recent on-the-ground investigation, ITM Trading’s Taylor Kenney visited Chase Field in Phoenix to see if America’s pastime still accepts America’s money. The result? A resounding no. Not only is the stadium proudly cashless, but the solution offered is a “reverse ATM”—a machine that eats your $20 and spits out a prepaid Visa card with an expiration date and hidden fees.

For "convenience," they say. For “safety.” But we’ve seen this playbook before. This is about more than hot dogs and ballgames...

As venues, businesses, and even entire cities go digital, the question remains:

If legal tender is no longer accepted, is it still money?

Follow Taylor on X: Taylor Kenney