MasterCard Airs 'Priceless Surprises' World Series Ads Featuring Apple Pay

Earlier this week, Major League Baseball and MasterCard announced a partnership that has seen Apple Pay support roll out at concession stands at ballparks in San Francisco and Kansas City for the World Series. As part of its World Series promotional push, MasterCard also debuted a pair of television ads during last night's Game 1, featuring Apple Pay and the company's "Priceless Surprises" program that has seen cardholders surprised with various rewards.


One spot features former New York Yankees star Mariano Rivera and longtime Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, while the second features Kansas City Royals legend George Brett, with MasterCard promoting surprises such as meet-and-greets with the stars and tickets to World Series games.


On its Priceless Surprises website, MasterCard notes it has surprised over 70,000 cardholders with various rewards, and now Apple Pay gives users more ways to win.

Apple launched its Apple Pay mobile payments service on Monday with the debut of iOS 8.1, with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus supporting the service in-store and in apps, while the new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 support it for in-app purchases only.

MasterCard, Visa, and American Express have all signed onto the program, as have over 500 banks and a number of major retailers. Launching first in the United States, Apple Pay is now accepted at over 200,000 points of sale and the cards and banks responsible for the vast majority of U.S. credit card spending are compatible with the service.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases Firmware Updates for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday November 11, 2024 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released firmware updates for both AirPods 4 models (version number 7B20) and the AirPods Pro 2 with both Lightning and USB-C charging cases (version number 7B21). All of these AirPods models were previously on firmware version 7B19. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in firmware versions 7B20 and 7B21, but we will update this story if we find...
New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

18 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Wednesday November 13, 2024 2:09 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 next month, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well....
iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

iPhone SE 4 Camera Modules to Enter Mass Production Next Month

Tuesday November 12, 2024 2:56 am PST by
Apple's camera module supplier for the upcoming iPhone SE 4 is set to begin mass production of the components in December, according to a new report coming out of Korea. Economic newspaper Ajunews reports that LG Innotek will supply the front camera module for the budget-friendly fourth-generation device. Final tests are now said to be underway, with mass production of the module following...
iphone 6 thickness

iPhone 17 'Air' May Not Be Much Thinner Than iPhone 6

Monday November 11, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Next year's iPhone 17 "Air" model may not be as thin as Apple planned, according to a rumor originating in Korea. According to the news aggregator account "yeux1122" on Naver, citing industry sources, Apple has run into problems making the new iPhone 17 model sufficiently thin. The device's reduced thickness is apparently dependent on manufacturing a battery with a thinner substrate, but...
new mac holiday

The Best Early Black Friday Mac Deals

Monday November 11, 2024 7:45 am PST by
Black Friday is getting closer, and prices on MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, and Mac mini computers have started to drop as the shopping holiday nears. These deals include the latest models of the M4 MacBook Pro and iMac. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site...
iOS 18

Here's Everything New in iOS 18.2 Beta 3

Monday November 11, 2024 4:53 pm PST by
Apple seeded the third betas of iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 to developers for testing today. While the third betas of each update are minor relative to the first two betas, there are still a handful of changes across the Photos app, TV app, and more. A corresponding iOS 18.2 public beta with these changes will likely be released later this week, and Apple previously confirmed that the software...
General Final Cut Pro Feature

Apple Likely to Announce Final Cut Pro Update This Week With These New Features

Sunday November 10, 2024 12:13 pm PST by
In its announcement video for the new Mac mini last month, Apple teased an "upcoming" version of Final Cut Pro for the Mac. Apple will likely announce the update during the annual Final Cut Pro Creative Summit, which begins this Wednesday. The conference is held in association with Apple, and attendees will be visiting Apple Park on the first day. Apple already teased four new features...
iPad iOS 16 WP Display Feature eric edit

Apple to Launch AI-Powered Home 'Command Center' as Soon as March 2025

Tuesday November 12, 2024 1:09 pm PST by
Apple is planning to launch an AI-powered smart home display as soon as March 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The display will measure in at approximately six inches, and while it is similar to an iPad, it is square rather than rectangular and it has thick bezels around the edges. There is a camera at the top front so that it can be used for FaceTime, plus there are internal speakers...

Top Rated Comments

Nunyabinez Avatar
131 months ago
'Priceless surprise' indeed.

"Hey, keep all of your financial details on a smartphone that can't even keep a stable wifi signal."

I hope you'll forgive me if I'm a little pessimistic about Apple Pay. No doubt it'll be big -- I just sincerely hope nothing goes wrong as that would be disastrous.

Yes, I would much rather hand my card with my account number, security code and signature to a waiter who takes it to the back to process it. No chance that system would have issues.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
osofast240sx Avatar
131 months ago
Google wallet never had this push not even remotely close. Can't wait to hear the responses from all the android naysayers
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2010mini Avatar
131 months ago
Well in the rest of the world (not America), we have this great thing called 'chip and pin'. And it's everywhere.

So the steps are:

1) take out your card
2) put your card in and type in your pin

I appreciate Apple Pay will be great across the pond, but it's essentially the same process -- except your phone is your card and your pin is your fingerprint. And as iOS 8 was a steaming buggy pile I'm sure you can grant me a little cynicism.

You missed this one:
3) hope a thief doesn't see your pin, then lifts your wallet and go spending while you are unaware it is missing
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mazeman Avatar
131 months ago
'Priceless surprise' indeed.

"Hey, keep all of your financial details on a smartphone that can't even keep a stable wifi signal."

I hope you'll forgive me if I'm a little pessimistic about Apple Pay. No doubt it'll be big -- I just sincerely hope nothing goes wrong as that would be disastrous.

The beauty of Apple Pay is that NOTHING of any value if kept on the phone, or kept by Apple. No CC#, security code, or expiration date. Your CC# isn't even transmitted to the vendor.

You might want to read up on it.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nunyabinez Avatar
131 months ago
Google wallet never had this push not even remotely close

Apple should thank the NSA (or was it FBI) for complaining that their systems were secure enough that they couldn't be accessed by government spying. You can't buy that kind of publicity.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
agsystems Avatar
131 months ago
MC is really going hard in for the :apple:Pay
Might be irrelevant to some - but this is going to save them billions in fraud charges - that's why these banks are so happy.

Even if the phone is stolen is useless since the thief won't have your fingerprints and you can easily disabled it using any browser.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)