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Loeb & Loeb partner Douglas N. Masters explores how virtual reality will provide fans with new opportunities to engage and participate in sports. He discusses the potential for new revenue streams with VR in sports, including tiered subscription packages and in-game sales opportunities, as well as the impact of this new technology on the in-stadium experience.
The full video transcript is below.
I think virtual reality is going to be a new revenue stream, and I think you're going to be selling people subscription packages. You're going to be selling people packages at different levels. We're going to see it not only as an opportunity to provide fans with new ways to engage and participate in sports, but it's also going to create multiple tiers of new revenue streams that in some ways, we really haven't even begun to figure out. Will there be high-level opportunities to be courtside or to have inside access, or some lower-cost opportunities to maybe be in the balcony? Are there going to be ads running within the streams? Are there going to be sales opportunities not only during games, but during practices and other experiences – traveling with the team on the plane to the game, whatever it might be?
I think virtual reality is going to be one of these things where there might be some resistance because it could cannibalize the in-stadium experience. Why am I going to go pay to be at the Knicks game when I can sit in my living room and feel like I'm there with the headsets on? The realization is that there are some people that are just not going to come to the game. Some people can't afford to go to the game. Some people are too far away to go to the game. Some people hate crowds. Whatever it might be. I think it's maybe a little generational, too, in terms of who's going to be more comfortable with the VR setup and be drawn to something like that. Instead of thinking about those engagement opportunities as cannibalizing the in-stadium experience, I think they're ultimately going to be additive.
