Manchester United defender Phil Jones has turn into the newest high-profile sportsperson to enter the metaverse. Jones, who has been on the membership’s books since 2011, has joined forces with Web3 agency Antourage to develop an unique metaverse members undertaking dubbed Red Lion Sports Club (RLSC).
The enterprise will operate as a form of gated on-line group, the place holders of particular NFTs can congregate to play video games and work together, view unique content material, enter competitions and help worthy causes. Designed by famous augmented actuality creator Doddz, solely 4,000 algorithmically-generated Red Lion member NFTs might be launched on the Solana blockchain, at a value of two SOL (round $250 at present costs).
A New Model for Fan Engagement
Scheduled to launch within the coming month, , Red Lion Sports Club will give attention to main sports activities occasions reminiscent of Premier League video games, the NBA playoffs, Formula 1’s British Grand Prix and golf’s British Open, with fan-influenced content material and mini-games dedicated to the varied sporting events.
“Over the past six months I’ve been researching and learning about Web 3.0 and the potential of the metaverse,” revealed Jones, who has received Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League trophies whereas making over 100 appearances for United.
“The idea behind the Red Lion Sports Club is to enable a new way of engaging with fans that promotes a genuine sense of community rooted in mutual respect for other members. RLSC will be a venue for fans of all sports that want to have a say in how a digital community grows and develops, interact with athletes, celebrities and other members, and influence the content that will be created around major events.”
Red Lion Sports Club is the primary metaverse undertaking that Stockholm-based startup Antourage has been concerned with, and co-founder Johan Junker stated he was “thrilled to have Phil on board as the driving force behind RLSC.” He defined, “This undertaking is on the coronary heart of Antourage’s existence: to attach passion-driven fan communities with genuine content material that’s distributed throughout the newest social platforms.
“We believe fans should be at the centre of the content ecosystem and be rewarded for their engagement. Red Lion Sports Club fully represents this philosophy and Web 3.0, driven by the metaverse, will expedite this change that will deliver greater value and a richer experience for fans and creators alike.”
Jones and Junker goal to fit their unique sports-centric members membership right into a distinguished metaverse, and to develop further content material and activations as its group develops.
Premier League Stars Go Mad for Meta
A lot of metaverse lovers now occupy the Old Trafford dressing room, with Jadon Sancho having lately partnered with Genies to launch his personal digital avatar and Luke Shaw launching his personal NFT assortment. Last week, Cristiano Ronaldo additionally participated in a $100 million funding spherical for FanCraze, which creates NFTs based mostly on main cricket tournaments.
Elsewhere within the English high flight, United’s cross-town rivals City have teamed up with Sony to breed their Etihad Stadium in digital actuality. The digitally mapped stadium might ultimately ‘host’ dwell video games, giving followers – or the digital avatars that characterize them – the chance to take pleasure in a match day expertise from the consolation of their very own residence.
