The way people choose to watch sport could be about to change - and the future is virtual.
Right now, if you aren't able to be at an event live you can watch it on TV from the comfort of your home. Soon, you might be able to slip on a headset and enjoy it in a virtual world – or even get the feeling of being there to witness the action live.
It's the basic concept of sport in the Metaverse. Fans can access 3D worlds either through a virtual reality headset or their desktop, communicate with other people as if they were having a face-to-face interaction and watch their favourite sports.
On Friday, local mixed martial arts promotion XFC will have its event broadcast on two Metaverse platforms in what is believed to be the first broadcast of its kind, where fans from around the world will have access to live New Zealand fights in a virtual world.
The technology isn't available to put fans cage side yet, but instead the broadcast will be set up like a viewing lounge with the fights shown on big screens in the virtual world.
Tom Hall-Taylor – whose marketing company Rumble Junction has linked up with The KingDome, a company working in the Metaverse space, to present XFC in the Metaverse on the platforms Decentraland (desktop) and Stageverse (VR headset) – explains the technology takes the viewing experience to a whole new level.
"Imagine you go watch an event, you can now do that just by putting on your virtual reality goggles, being in an environment with your friends, having a conversation with them where it tracks your hands, head movement, the way you move around and walk – even your emotions it can track. It actually does feel like you're having a conversation with someone in person, the only difference is you have an avatar replacing you.
"It sounds crazy, and it doesn't make as much sense at first, until you go in there, look around and think about it, but when I bought my own one, it really captured my imagination around how we could bring it to MMA. The more I look into it, the more exciting it becomes."
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Advertise with NZME.One key element of these platforms is the social environment that is created. Simply by slipping on a headset, you can catch up with friends or family members in other locations and interact as if you were in the same room.
At the moment, the technology in this space hasn't developed to the point where it can put fans inside the stadium, but sports agent Alexi Yovanoff believes it is only a matter of time before that is the case.
"Ultimately, I think this technology can provide sports viewers with options," Yovanoff says. "There is the option to watch with friends separated by geography in the same luxury 'fan cave' or sports bar in the Metaverse; to enjoy the experiences together in real time in a digital space.
"Another option will be for fans to watch the games from a seat in the stadium. To really get the local fan experience when thousands of miles away. Ultimately this needs to be a collaboration between the technology builders, sports teams and broadcasters - but I don't see it going any other way."
Yovanoff is one of the co-founders of SportsIcon, a company working in the sports Metaverse space not only looking to present live events there but also provide immersive experiences with athletes and other celebrities. However, these types of experiences won't be available to casual users. They will only be available to those who buy land in the space.
Chelsea FC striker Romelu Lukaku and reigning UFC women's featherweight champion Amanda Nunes are already working with the company to provide such experiences, with both offering training tips through the SportsIcon platform, which is set to launch mid-year.
"The technology is ready. The immersive experiences that people can enjoy with their friends and families around the world are here. It's the broadcasters that now need to play catch up to help make this happen.
"I have no doubt that this technology is the future, but we are early in the space. A month in this space is like a year in an ordinary business. Progress is like lightning. Of course, that does mean that having stars such as Amanda Nunes and Romelu Lukaku affiliated with the space will help bring more attention to it. It will help ease more and more fans in and show people what is possible."
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While there are many possibilities of what might be capable in the sports Metaverse, it does bring concerns as well.
Among them, how attendance at live events might suffer as a result, and the addictive side of immersive virtual worlds.
Any sports fan who has been to a live event will know there is no replicating the exact feeling of being there in person and experiencing the atmosphere. However, if it's just a good view of the action you want, the technology could provide that simply by slipping on a headset. Rather than having to pay the price of a ticket for such a seat in the venue, a user could be able to have a similar experience for the price of acquiring a headset.
"The real-life experience will always be amazing," Hall-Taylor says. "I'd be surprised if the Metaverse took over that and made it better than the real-life experience. I suppose it is technically possible and might just take a while, but I think there is value in literally being 5 metres from what's actually happening rather than knowing it is digitally there.
"People with money will always pay for that, but at the same time I feel like it is a real door opener for people who can't afford those live tickets to these big events and do want to feel what it might be like."
The addictive side of such platforms is well established. The online video game Second Life – which, as its name suggests, allows users to build a second life in an online world, interacting with other users through an avatar – became widely popular and has often been a case study in this area, with people playing to checkout of reality for a moment. A similar picture is painted in the 2011 novel Ready Player One (adapted into a film in 2018) where, to escape their dystopian reality, characters immerse themselves in a virtual world.
For a sports fan, a virtual world dedicated entirely to sports could easily become a place you would want to spend a lot of time.
Hall-Taylor admits there will always be such fears with immersive technology.
"There are so many different ways it could go. It's tricky. I feel like the problem is right now, people underestimate this. I'm on a train, I look up and there's hundreds of people (looking down) locked into their phone already.
"I do understand the dystopian aspect of all this technology, 100 per cent, and I guess it's about how we create ways to regulate it so we can use it in ways that are good and not bad, and not completely encapsulate our life.
"We don't want to give up all the important things that happen through human interaction that are so important. I don't think people will give a lot of those things up for something digital; I think they'll just use it for entertainment, but who knows? It's interesting to think about where this could go."
