The Metaverse and the future of sport

Written in collaboration with colleagues from MIT Sloan and Loughborough University.

What is the Metaverse?

Meta: “Beyond” the universe

The term Metaverse was first coined by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash. He depicted a virtual world that people could ‘plug into’ using personal terminals.

Fast forward 30 years, the interest and investment in the metaverse has accelerated, thanks in no small part to Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. He rebranded his company to Meta and is investing billions of dollars into building the metaverse, moves that brought the concept of the metaverse into mainstream conversation.

Despite the efforts of Meta and others in the space, the reality is we are still in the very early stages of what the metaverse could be, but the possibilities are seemingly endless. As Paul Taylor (Director of Morgan Stanley International) reminded us at the conference, it would be a mistake to see the metaverse as merely as an extension of social media:

“…the Metaverse is NOT an extension of Facebook, it is not a ‘thing’ – it is the ability to be able to explore.”

It is with this spirit of exploration that Loughborough and MIT Sloan approached the conversations at Loughborough London’s campus in late 2022. What is the Metaverse in practical terms? How will it affect us? And how can the metaverse be a positive force in our global society? These were among the questions that were deliberated.

Many have been participating in a version of the Metaverse for quite some time already….

Dr Ben Shields, Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan, pointed out many of us who participated in online open world games such as World of Warcraft or Fortnite have had a taste of the possibilities already. Christina Yen Zhang (CEO of the Metaverse Institute) proposed that it had been around since as early as Second Life – an online virtual world where users freely roamed and interacted with each other as their own avatars. This came out in 2003. And Paul McDonagh Smith (Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan) cited another early foray in 2012: the efforts to cope in the wake of hurricane Sandy where people were forced to work remotely in the wake of the disruption using 360 cameras mounted on robots.

But what actually is the Metaverse? According to Ben, the combination of three main characteristics separate metaverse experiences from social media, gaming, and other experiences on the Internet.   

“Metaverse is a digital world that is (1) immersive, it makes you feel like are you immersed in a different environment; (2) unscripted - it allows you to create and follow your own pathway based on your motivation and the environment around you; and (3) interactive, enables you to communicate with others in the same environment.”

These three characteristics are the building blocks of metaverse experiences. How they get combined and rebuilt will result in fascinating innovations in the future, Shields says.  

One view of the future that was unanimously agreed upon was that the idea of just one complete Metaverse could be misleading – it may evolve on a series of continuums – a ‘multiverse’ if you will.

Speaking at the conference, Dr Ben Shields, Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan, added:

“What’s unique about our approach today is that we are exploring the future with the very specific case study of sport.

“As we know, sport has been an innovation driver for many technologies in the past – whether that be radio, television, mobile phones or social media – and it is quite likely that sport will be a leading innovation driver for the Metaverse moving forward.”

This statement alone, for all its deceptive simplicity, when properly taken in opens up the entire world and offers that everything can and will be available to everybody.

Bob Pozen, senior lecturer at MIT Sloan and former President of Fidelity Investments, noted that the practicality of staging large scale sporting events may have run its course. Citing the example of the recent Qatar world cup where stadiums were built at great cost only to be dismantled after the tournament is a potential huge waste of resources and labour.

Professor Tim Watson (Director, Cyber Security Centre, Loughborough University and Programme Director, Alan Turing Institute) suggests that to save potentially billions in development we could simulate the possibilities of building our sporting venues for events such as the Olympics first in the Metaverse to achieve maximum potential savings, ergonomics and resources before we even lay foundations in real life:

“Wouldn’t it be better if instead of spending billions on Stadiums, run them in the Metaverse first, let’s see if the transport links work, let’s get the people in, let’s get the waste out before we spend the money?”

…or perhaps we take it further. The Metaverse gives us the opportunity as consumers to experience sport in a whole new inclusive way. Stadium maximum capacities could be a thing of the past as spectators group together to watch their favourite sporting events virtually, to experience the feel in real time without needing to travel.

With the barriers of geography eradicated it is not out of the realms of possibility for lower standing sporting clubs or organisations to be exposed to a new audience in the most radical way, revolutionising revenues as a potentially unlimited new fanbase can be unlocked in the virtual world. Much like Spotify has changed the way we consume music – everything is at your fingertips, including artists you may never have heard of before – sport can thrive on this brand-new level of exposure leading to a much more inclusive and diverse experience.

Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan Bob Pozen also reflected upon the different ways to monetise the new universe:

“We could issue our own native token and have that be the currency? Or people could use their own currency... Meta dollars?”

We would have to ask ourselves whether the Metaverse and particularly spectator sport within it would be based around a traditional subscription model or something else entirely. There could be a cross monetisation between the real world and the metaverse – if somebody amassed enough real-world tokens, could they be traded for Meta currency or bonuses?

Or perhaps we could go further than this to a place where the ‘real world’ and the Metaverse become freely interchangeable financially. And there is the question of how Blockchain might impact it, as the Metaverse and Blockchain are in their infancy they could grow together to create an entirely different financial structure for consumers.

Professor Tim Watson points out that coaching and analysis may be completely overhauled as coaches can now be liberated from looking at screens and graphs and pages of data, the ability to interactively analyse everything down to the macro level, but remotely in the virtual world may revolutionise the way sport is coached.

Peter further goes on to detail a further hypothetical possibility:

“If I get asked to do say, a coaching masterclass in Indonesia or wherever I can say “I tell you what, I’ll run a training group and I can talk to you in 10 languages and share what I’ve learnt, and we can then all go on a ride together and we won’t have to even get on a plane to attend … that would be cool.”

Ed Smith (Former England cricketer and now Co-Founder & Director, Institute of Sports Humanities) summed up the impact the Metaverse could have on training athletes:

“today …a synchronised video shows a bowler with a bowling machine behind it – so you get the cadence and the rhythm if you are the batsman… this could be done MUCH better in the Metaverse and also a fan as well as a professional athlete could use it.”

An exciting opportunity also arises for the casual sports enthusiast or amateur athlete to have exposure to top level training. Nick Jennings, Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University, adds:

“I think it would be super interesting to face an over from Shane Warne!”

The reference of the cricketer in question who passed away last year opens up even more possibilities – would the Metaverse allow the user to try a go a few rounds against Muhammad Ali for instance or perhaps race against Ayrton Senna? Perhaps this is the opportunity for any casual golfer to do 18 holes at St Andrews at any time? The likelihood seems increasingly possible as the lines between reality and fantasy become increasingly blurred in the Metaverse – where anything becomes possible.

The concept does not come without its challenges though, as a new world opens up the potential for new malpractices and unintended and unforeseen consequences will of course play a part. Christina Yen Zhang pointed out that energy consumption will be a prime obstacle to overcome once everybody has access to the Metaverse. Will the Metaverse contribute to increased social isolation or will it reinvent people’s concepts of what society is? In the wake of the post digital boom, some lamented the death of the traditional high street but as Tim pointed out – the high street isn’t dead, it has just evolved and this is something we all must get on board with. Professor Nick Jennings offered that this is a chance to connect us all in a more meaningful way, but also warned:

“We need to be actively ensuring that exclusions and social disadvantages are not amplified by these technologies.”

In closing he also surmised:

“…why are we trying to force existing sports into it? The sport that works in the Metaverse may well be outside of our current imagination.”

This closing thought brings us full circle – any expectations of the Metaverse which we hold at the moment may well have to be turned upside down and re-thought. It is often the unforeseen or unintended things which prove to be the most impactful and hold the most significance. We must be ready to embrace, guide and work together towards these infinite possibilities.