Head of Discovery Sports Events François Ribeiro and Elliott Jobe, chief innovation officer and co-founder of Infinite Reality, reveal early plans
Warner Bros. Discovery has unveiled its first metaverse platform created with Infinite Reality at the UCI Track Champions League's season two finale in London, 2-3 December.
The Track Champions League has become the “laboratory” for the broadcaster’s plans in Web3, as explained by Discovery Sports Events chief François Ribeiro at the beta unveiling. A full version is expected for season three, with the images shown here made to show what is expected from the final product.
The first tangible step of the two companies’ partnership, which was announced in October, Ribeiro warned: “We do not expect everything we do to be a success,” adding, “We have decided to stop scratching our heads and saying, what do we do with the metaverse? The reality is, we will learn as people get into it. How do they use it? How do they interact with this? What do they think about it?”
The Track Champions League metaverse platform has high ambitions, beginning with areas to watch live cycling, highlights, and the competition's behind-the-scenes docuseries Back On Track, speak to other users, and browse merchandise and NFTs. Currently only a test version that was run at the season two finale in London, the platform hopes to add further merchandise opportunities, video explainers of the sport, and direct access to the athletes taking part before, after, and possibly even during the event.
Users can log in on desktop browsers currently, with mobile platforms to be added, and speak to each other through webcams or experience the content on offer. Headset access has been tested but isn't currently possible, and could be added once there is greater adoption of the technology by audiences.
When it comes to the live streaming and highlights, Ribeiro revealed that the platform aims to give, “a kind of access that you would normally never have, even as a VIP. We want to give the opportunity to people to understand how we produce that world feed, so we’re going to put a live camera in the OB van just sitting behind the live director…we’re going to put a camera behind the show caller, the guy who’s controlling all your lights, the sound, pushing content on the LED screens…we want to put the camera as close as possible to the UCI referee…we’re gonna put a live camera on the floor manager, the guy who is speaking to all the riders to make sure they start their event on time.”
There are also cameras on the individual bikes, with Infinite Reality chief innovation officer and co-founder Elliott Jobe mentioning, “One of the fun moments was meeting one of the athletes and hearing about how their family was so excited to be able to stay connected through the entire experience."
The Track Champions League is aiming to bring more data to track cycling than ever before, including brand new metrics, as explained by SVP of content and production at Warner Bros. Discovery Europe Scott Young and UCI Track Champions League series director Florian Pavia to Broadcast Sport last month. This is being brought to the metaverse too, but with greater flexibility due to the users' ability to edit what they want to see. Jobe revealed: “Now fans can pick and choose what they want to see what they're tracking, and how much of the data overlay they want to have," while watching the live content. Data panels sat to either side of the stream in the beta, with users able to hide them, or edit what they show.
Another feature that could be coming in the future, although possibly not in time for season three, is the ability to race the athletes themselves through home cycling systems such as Peloton. Ribeiro said: “We are absolutely dreaming to get the opportunity to fans to compete from their house, from their home trainer, in the metaverse against their friends, but also to benchmark their own performance against [athletes]."
This is only Warner Bros. Discovery's first effort at a metaverse platform, with FIM Speedway slated to come next in 2023. Ribeiro confirmed that there will then be two more sports added in 2024 and 2025, but which ones hasn't been confirmed: “It could be car racing, it could motorbikes, it could be mountain bike. Who knows?"
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