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

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Production Will Reportedly Begin Ramping Up in October

Tuesday July 23, 2024 2:00 pm PDT by
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Kuo: Ultra-Thin iPhone 17 to Feature A19 Chip, Single Rear Camera, Semi-Titanium Frame, and More

Wednesday July 24, 2024 9:06 am PDT by
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Less Than Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Thursday July 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
icloud private relay outage

iCloud Private Relay Experiencing Outage

Thursday July 25, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature Purple

iPhone 17 Rumored to Feature Mechanical Aperture

Tuesday July 23, 2024 9:32 am PDT by
Apple is planning to release at least one iPhone 17 model next year with mechanical aperture, according to a report published today by The Information. The mechanical system would allow users to adjust the size of the iPhone 17's aperture, which refers to the opening of the camera lens through which light enters. All existing iPhone camera lenses have fixed apertures, but some Android...

Top Rated Comments

Nunyabinez Avatar
127 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
127 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
127 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
127 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
127 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
127 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)