Sporting Activities are a part of our daily lives in two primary ways. Firstly, we love watching sporting events live from a physical stadium or TV. People spend a lot of money traveling to support sports teams or subscribe to broadcast stations.
Besides, we make out time for recreational sports with friends and family. Like watching sports, we also spend some money organizing recreations.
Humans do all these for many reasons. Some show up for sporting events in support of a team or country. At the same time, others watch these games in their free time. Meanwhile, recreational sports help many people to bond with family.
Remember, the metaverse aims to improve our lives by taking some activities to the virtual space. So, the billions of sports fans worldwide will find it helpful if sporting activities exist in the metaverse.
This article will discuss whether we can have sporting activities in the metaverse or not. Also, you will understand how the metaverse can improve your participation as a sports fan.
Sporting Activities in the metaverse
Redefining how we watch sports events
During the last football game between Man City and Man U, did you feel the excitement of spectators from the sound of your speaker after each goal? If you have never seen a world-class sporting event from a physical stadium, it might be hard to tell how this feel.
No doubt, not everyone can get the chance to view football matches, basketball games, etc. Even watching the event from a 4K TV doesn’t feel like you are there.
The metaverse is a solution that might be even more inclusive than watching sports physically. Virtual reality, a metaverse technology, offers complete immersion and a sense of physical presence while watching a game from home.
To begin with, viewing sporting events in the metaverse eliminates transportation costs and location barriers. In a matter of seconds, you are viewing the game live, in 360-degree view, as if you are right there.
Watching games from vintage points with the best vision can be expensive today. But, the metaverse will not only lower that cost; it will allow you to switch your viewing position or perspective by simply clicking the screen.
Moreover, you can run alongside a favorite player, zoom in, or watch replay many times without interrupting others. Watching sporting activities in the metaverse also help fans with other commitment to support their teams from any location.
In February, Manchester City announced its partnership with Sony to replicate the Etihad Stadium in the metaverse. With the three-year deal, Manchester City aims to design a virtual reality version of its stadium where fans can instantly jump in and view matches. Also, the virtual Etihad Stadium will feature unlimited capacity and allow spectators to watch from different angles of their choosing.
Recreational sports in the metaverse
Using augmented reality (AR), families and friends can have fun times by playing outdoor games together from different places. It works by sending a hologram version of yourself or an object to a position. As others see you through their AR devices, you see them, and everyone plays as if they are physically present.
Meanwhile, virtual reality also allows you to have shared recreation with others. Mark Zuckerberg explained how shared sporting activities in the metaverse could happen in the company’s video about the metaverse. He asserted that through AR (holograms) and VR, multiple persons from anywhere can come together to participate in metaverse sports.
Sports training and physical fitness
YouTube and fitness apps began the trend of online fitness or training. However, people struggle to keep up with the routine or to follow what the fitness coach does.
Accordingly, the metaverse offers better ways of training and fitness. Once again, AR and VR are the applicable technologies here. Using AR, players can appear as holograms on the training field to receive lectures from their coach and even for practice. Similarly, fitness coaches can appear at your home as a hologram to aid you in working out.
As for VR, it makes training and workout sessions more enjoyable. You could join a workout class where everyone is home riding their fitness bikes and following directions or a coach.
Currently, FIT XR, a fitness game on Meta Quest, offers boxing and dancing classes in VR. Likewise, Rezzil Player is a metaverse sports training game where you can learn sporting skills entirely in virtual reality.
Furthermore, Supernatural delivers a full-on workout game along with over 500 different exercises in virtual reality. Flow, its full-on workout game, is built for users to exercise while having fun. They also get instructions from coaches while exploring multiple workout options.
Fan engagement in metaverse sports
The metaverse opens multiple doors of increased fan engagement for sports teams. As there are online sports communities today, the metaverse can deliver the communities in a better way.
Here, sports enthusiasts and fans can have improved interactions with players, athletes, and anyone they admire. Bonding between fans and athletes becomes more accessible since they only interact with the avatar of such players, and the relationship ends in the virtual space.
Those who love sports arguments or celebrations will find the metaverse a better tool. It is easier to replay that moment everyone can’t seem to agree on in virtual reality.
Further, clubs can make fan merchandise accessible in the metaverse by selling them as NFTs. Avatars of fans that own fan merchandise will wear them to virtual stadiums, as they do to real stadiums. By doing this, teams can make sporting activities in the metaverse seem more realistic.
For instance, Manchester United now has an exclusive deal with Tezos, a blockchain protocol. While the team will publicize Tezos on their training kits, Man U will launch non-fungible tokens on the Tezos network. Fans can purchase these NFTs in support of the team. Later, Man U may convert the NFTs to wearables for digital avatars of its fans.
