The New Age Fan Experience
5 Recent examples of innovative, cutting edge fan experiences. In stadium or at-home.
Raising the bar
No, I’m not talking about the price of a stadium beer going up. Though it’s hardly cheap nowadays.
Sports fans have good reasons to raise their expectations of what it’s like to watch sports in 2023, whether in-stadium or at-home. Using innovative tech, SportsTech companies have done an incredible job of truly transforming the way fans engage with their favourite teams and athletes.
Here are five examples of some cool tech put in the hands of the sports fan that I found interesting.
1. VR Streaming: Euroleague & YBVR
This isn’t exactly new but has developed really nicely. For the 3rd year in a row, the Euroleague partnered with YBVR to present the Final Four in VR. A ticketed experience, in 2023 the partnership expanded that to include some regular seasons games as well. As VR headsets become ubiquitous, this sort of experience will likely become increasingly common in sports.
Will Apple’s VR headset launch be the final tipping point that takes VR mainstream?
2. AR in Stadium: FIFA World Cup 2022
An experience that Kimberly from our team could take-in 1st hand in Qatar, this one is all about improving the in-stadium experience.
Using the FIFA+ app on their mobile phone, fans could access live stats of players by just tapping on them on their screen. The display included player heat maps, speed when making runs, and stats like passes completed. Add on replays, highlight, and a multi camera angle viewing option and that’s quite a package. Making it a truly immersiv experience.
Only thing missing was the couch, some chips & a cold drink. Next time, FIFA.
3. 3D Imaging: NBA Fan App
This is where stuff starts to get pretty wild.
At the NBA All-Star Tech Summit in Feb this year, NBA commissioner Adam Silver revealed some incredible new tech where basically a fan can insert themselves into a live game as a player. Yeah, it sounds pretty nuts. Watch the video to understand the experience. The takeaway is clear, innovative solutions using 3D imaging will be a big part of the next wave of immersive experiences.
Not live yet on their app though, will have to wait just a bit longer to get that pic of you dunking on LeBron James.
4. Digital Twins of Physical Venues: Paris 2024 & OnePlan
I got to see a demo of this in person at a recent event and the work is frankly incredible. OnePlan promises to make the Paris 2024 Olympic Games more inclusive (by allowing more people to experience them without attending) and more sustainable (less people needing to travel means mother nature gets a small reprieve).
We’ve seen quite a few examples of digital twins / virtual worlds / metaverse experiences. This is one that I’m definitely looking forward to. In the words of Audrey Hepburn — “Paris is always a good idea.”
5. Connecting Physical & Digital: Clube Atlético Mineiro & CollectID
Yes, we agree that talking about NFTs has become tiresome, the term has almost become a bad word. But if you forget about the cash-grab connotations, the technology still presents some interesting use cases. And not just in major SportsTech markets.
Brazilian football club Atlético Mineiro partnered with CollectID to create a smart football jersey. Why smart? With a quick scan of the NFC tag on the jersey, buyers can verify it’s authenticity and register the jersey online to receive a digital twin. Which gives them access to exclusive club content through a special rewards program… and so on.
Phygital already is and increasingly will be a thing.
Yes, there are lots more. We know.
At the same time, I’ve quite enjoyed this ‘5 use cases’ series. We did one recently on AI in Sports, is something we’ll continue so stay tuned. As always, feedback is more than welcome.
Rohn Malhotra is a Co-Founder at Berlin based SportsTechX. A cinephile & sports nut, you can get in touch via LinkedIn or email if you want to talk about either.
