Forwards & Backwards: Which Steps Are Being Taken
Forward: NBA & Real-World Metaverse. Backward: Hockey Canada & Partners. Forward: Avalanche Use Tech on Cup Run.
Our thoughts are with the country and people of Ukraine, hoping a peaceful end is near.
On Today’s Agenda:
NBA Partners with the Creators of Pokemon Go, Niantic to Enter the Metaverse
Partners Have Backed Out of their Commitments, Government Also Freezing Funds
New Champion is One of the Many Things That Changed This NHL Playoffs
NBA Enters a New World
NBA Partners with the Creators of Pokemon Go, Niantic to Enter the Metaverse
By AJ Hewish
NBA All-World, the new game from the creators of Pokemon Go, Niantic, which allows fans to compete against each other in the real world, opens up the Metaverse in the NBA.
Using geolocation, fans and players can challenge others to a one-on-one mini multiplayer game on their smartphones. However, this has been done before, with Pokemon Go and the Harry Potter game. This time, Niantic claims that All-World is a first-of-its-kind game that places NBA fans into the “real-world metaverse,”
NBA All-World is set to layer computer animations on top of the natural world when viewed through augmented reality glasses or smartphones. Additionally, the hopes are to turn the world into a basketball theme park, where points of interest will exist in numerous locations around the globe, allowing fans to get outside and explore while improving their All-World character by unlocking stamina or authentic shoes at specific locations.
Fans can explore various games and options in the NBA metaverse, with 1v1 games, King of the Court, and just practice modes, while exploring the real world through their AR device.
Marcus Matthews, the Senior Producer of NBA All-World commented that All-World debuts a new way to engage in sports gaming. He and Niantic believe in the future of AR and its place in the world and as such, they approach this new game with that metaverse future in mind.
Here at white whale mktg, we look at the big picture, and in terms of gaming and sports, this could just be the beginning. This could be the start of fans traveling in the real world, not for travel but for their gaming experience in the Metaverse combined with sports. Additionally, the potential to expand the Metaverse into VR with real players, teams, coaches, and fans is endless.
Overall, this is just stage one in the development of the relationship between technology and sports, and more are soon to come, you can count on that
Hockey Canada Losing Partnerships
Partners Have Backed Out of their Commitments, Government Also Freezing Funds
By Hiral Patel
Content Warning: The following article contains references to sexual assault
Over the past few days, some of Hockey Canada’s biggest partners have announced a pause to their partnership agreements with the association. Scotiabank, Telus, Imperial Oil (Esso), Tim Hortons, and Canadian Tire have made statements over the past few days to announce their decision. This comes in response to a settled lawsuit involving the 2017-18 Men’s World Junior team, as reported by Rick Westhead of TSN last month.
It was also announced on Wednesday by the Canadian Minister of Sport Pascale St-Onge that the Federal Government will be freezing its funding to Hockey Canada – with the request that Hockey Canada agrees to work with a new agency to independently investigate and review abuse complaints and administer sanctions. Before the freeze, Hockey Canada received $14 million in funding in 2021 from the government, not including COVID-19-related subsidies.
While most partners made a statement expressing their disappointment in the organization for the lack of accountability for harmful behaviour as a cause for their decision, a few organizations stood out in their statements:
Telus announced that they will be redirecting their funds to Canadian organizations that support women affected by sexual violence
Scotiabank made an open letter in the Globe and Mail, redirecting their funding to the Hockey Canada Assist fund, with an additional donation to the Canadian Women’s Foundation
Imperial Oil will be stepping back from supporting the 2022 Men’s World Juniors with Esso branding, and specifically stated supporting grassroots youth and women’s programs
It is important to remember that Hockey Canada oversees operations of both the Men’s, Women’s, and Youth programming, and these brands have acknowledged that the actions of the organization (with respect to their Men’s program_ should not hinder the investments they are making in supporting the youth and women that love the game and may experience barriers in accessing the game.
With over 60 partners listed on its website across multiple categories (including supply partners), Hockey Canada strongly depends on partnership funding to help support its operations. According to the 2020-21 Report on Hockey Canada’s website, 43% of Hockey Canada’s funding comes from Business Development and Partnerships, including an additional 6% that comes from Government Assistance. With the potential of more partners retracting funding, Hockey Canada is currently operating on thin ice, to say the least.
It’s All About Entertaining, Great Performance By Avalanche On & Off the Ice
New Champion is One of the Many Things That Changed This NHL Playoffs
By Caleb Gilligan
It finally happened. After years of being disappointed by early playoff exits, the Colorado Avalanche have finally won their third Stanley Cup. They had to push themselves to the limit to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning team who fought to the very last minute to have a chance at their third Stanley Cup in a row.
Although a new Stanley Cup champion was crowned, it’s not the only change in this year’s Finals. After securing a major broadcasting agreement with ESPN before the start of this season, fans could expect to see certain improvements in the presentation and marketing for the Playoffs. To start, the NHL changed the design of the Stanley Cup Playoffs logo for the first time since 2007. The new logo represents the new minimalistic style that is becoming increasingly common in sports logos. Next, the NHL also added more banners to the trophy presentation ceremony. Similar to NFL, NBA, and European Soccer presentations, the NHL included Stanley Cup banners and small firework displays while handing out the trophy to Avalanche captain, Gabriel Landeskog. While the fireworks were not new this year, improvements to the presentation ceremony are always welcome since it feels as though the NHL falls behind when celebrating the biggest trophy in North American sports. Many more small presentation details were added throughout the series like new graphics to show player stats and improved real-time data provided by AWS such as faceoff win probabilities. Although these changes may seem small, it improves the quality of presentation in which the NHL has been seriously falling behind other major sports.
Although several design changes were added to this year’s Finals, did it help increase viewership? The 2022 Stanley Cup Finals averaged 4.59 million viewers on the American network ABC. For comparison, the 2022 NBA Finals averaged 12.4 million on the same network. The NHL’s viewership was actually up 82% from the 2021 Finals average of 2.52 million on NBC, however, the 2022 Finals remained the second-least viewed Finals since 2012 if you remove Covid-19-affected seasons. Although the viewership numbers paint a complicated picture, the best statistic to focus on is that the NHL has increased viewership in the Finals in three consecutive seasons since the start of the pandemic. This shows that although ESPN has helped to improve the overall design and marketability of the NHL, there is still a long way to go if the NHL wants to truly compete with other major North American sports.