Manchester City Football Club has partnered with tech giant Sony to create a digital map of the Etihad’s home stadium and build a virtual replica of it in the metaverse.
The reigning English Premier League winner has announced that he has signed a three-year deal with Sony Hawk-Eye to build the world’s first football stadium in the metaverse. With the help of virtual reality experts from Sony, Manchester City FC will create a digital map of the club’s home stadium and build a virtual version of it.
Manchester City are confident that the virtual Etihad Stadium will allow club fans who cannot travel to Manchester to watch live games from the comfort of their own homes, as well as participate in virtual meetings with players and fan communities .
A virtual stadium can “accommodate” an unlimited number of fans. In addition, hosting football matches on a virtual venue can change the way broadcasting rights are distributed, which will positively influence the increase in income of football clubs.
At the moment, broadcast rights are being sold to broadcasters as part of the Premier League package, but in the case of matches played in the metaverse, teams will be able to sell them directly to fans, including for intra-club cryptocurrency.
At the beginning of last year, Manchester City FC announced the release of fan tokens ($CITY), the owners of which will have access to VIP rewards, promotions, participation in closed voting and other preferences. Among the football clubs that have paid attention to issuing their own club tokens are AC Milan, Juventus, Barcelona, Fenerbahce and Paris Saint-Germain.
