English Premier League football club manchester city Y sony are collaborating to create a new virtual fan engagement platform in the metaverse.

Unveiled at CES 2023, the Proof of Concept (PoC) video reveals avatars interacting in a virtual version of the Etihad Stadium, the home of Manchester City. The PoC also includes Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations, which uses skeletal tracking for virtual recreation. The prototype on display showcased Sony’s system for distributing live 3D video for visitors to experience Manchester City players in a 3D metaverse space.

“Through this PoC, Sony will support Manchester City to further increase the value of its content and engagement with its fans around the world,” said Toshimoto Mitomo, Officer in Charge of the Intellectual Property and Business Incubation Platform. from sony.

Multiple sports leagues are finding value in building communities across the metaverse. In May 2022, Italian Serie A league broadcast a soccer game in the metaverse. In addition to watching the game, players can play related games, check live statistics, and have their avatars wear branded jerseys. In September 2022, Spanish soccer league the league joined Decentraland, an Ethereum-based metaverse.

One of the reasons for this shift into the metaverse is the need to cater to a younger audience. With people spending more time online, offering the ability to watch games with friends digitally is one way to retain viewers. It helps sports brands engage their global audience and fans so they feel more present, even if they are thousands of miles away.

The Italian Serie A and Manchester City PoC initiative is a relatively new application from the metaverse, involving live streaming of matches. Web3 football applications are most often found in the NFT space, featuring fantasy leagues and play-to-win games. Some examples of these include fifa collaboration with web3 based games and blockchain fantasy games like So weird formation of national sports teams.