Home of football statistics and historyProfessional football has undergone some seismic changes during the 21st century, with technology transforming how fans engage with the world’s most popular sport.
If you are supporter aged over 50 in England, you will remember the days when going to the stadium on matchday was the primary way you kept in touch with your favourite team.
While highlights shows on television, radio commentaries and daily newspapers provided added connections to the sport, the options were limited.
The launch of the Premier League and Sky Sports’ involvement changed the landscape, creating a culture where football became a 24/7/365 operation.
Advances in technology have further heightened engagement, giving fans a plethora of different ways they can immerse themselves in football.
For example, the betting companies featured at DailyMail.co.uk have been a major driver in live streams and their adoption among the global football community.
This type of engagement did not exist before the turn of the century, with online betting and live streaming yet to arrive on the scene in football.
Given how much things have changed this century, it is fair to assume that the next few years will witness further developments in how fans engage with the sport.
Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and the metaverse have been widely tipped to be the next big thing, with several technology giants driving innovations in this area.
Apple’s recent launch of the ‘Vision Pro’ headset saw all three elements combined, although the size-related limitations of the product were clear for everyone to see.
However, as we have seen with products such as laptops and mobile phones, developers are extremely adept at ‘shrinking’ technology into smaller hardware over time.
Technology expert Marques Brownlee recently backed up that point when comparing the larger headsets commonly associated with VR/AR with the current capabilities of smart sunglasses.
“I’m pretty sure we are barrelling towards this ‘computers on our faces’ future at some point,” Brownlee said. “It does feel like it’s picking up that much steam and that much investment.
“So even if you don’t believe we’re are going to be wearing these (VR/AR headsets) on our faces for a super long time it probably won’t be this, it’ll be something smaller. Slowly we’ll get more and more face computer time.”
One of the primary drivers behind football’s push to embrace VR, AR and the metaverse is the desire to engage with a generation of fans whose childhood years were dominated by online gaming.
Through their experiences with games such as the iconic FIFA series (now EA Sports FC), they have become accustomed to the coupling of physical and digital interactions.
The next natural step for football will be to harness the power of VR, AR and the metaverse to create experiences which cajole this younger demographic into becoming the fans of the future.
Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City are among several big clubs who have been actively exploring the possibilities in this area over the past couple of years.
They teamed up with technology giant Sony in 2021 to work on project which recreates the Etihad Stadium in the virtual world of metaverse.
This will allow fans around the world to ‘visit’ the stadium and sets up the possibility of them watching Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side live.
Supporters could use the technology to view the game from any angle withing the stadium, thus firing the game watching experience into a completely different stratosphere.
This development could be massive from a financial perspective, with the stadium capacity currently limiting the revenue a club is able to generate on a single matchday.
Clubs could use this technology to sell tickets to the virtual version of the game – a concept which may well shake up how broadcast rights are sold in the future.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes it is only a matter of time before other major clubs switch onto the potential benefits of utilising VR, AR and the metaverse to enhance fan engagement.
“Why couldn’t Manchester United, for example, have some form of match taking place at Old Trafford physically, and simultaneously being broadcast in some 3D format to New York, Lagos, Melbourne, Beijing and 50,000 fans attending there, other people wearing headsets, with those people willing to pay the equivalent of $30-40 to be in a stadium or $10 to have that experience at home?” Maguire told Sky Sports.
A major stumbling block to that idea is the current cost of the supporting hardware, with the Vision Pro currently retailing at more than £3,000.
However, as the technology advances and companies work out how to make the products more cost effective, they will naturally become more attractive to the general public. Fan engagement in football has changed dramatically since the turn of the century. VR, AR and the metaverse look guaranteed to generate a much greater transformation.
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