Have you ever wanted to wander around a virtual baseball stadium, and not experience a game, really, but instead kind of hang out with other fans in avatar form? Then, boy howdy, does MLB have a new product for you.
The league announced it’s launching a virtual stadium for the celebrity softball game during its All-Star Game festivities this weekend. It’s basically a stadium in the metaverse and a small dip into the digital community space for MLB.
« Not everyone has the opportunity to attend Major League games or enjoy a Major League ballpark experience, but now we can provide this opportunity to anyone with an internet connection, no matter where they are, » said Kenny Gersh, MLB executive vice president, media and business development, in a statement.
Though let’s be clear, it’s not like you’ll be able to slap on some goggles and feel like you’re actually sitting at a ballgame. This isn’t an immersive experience like you might get one day with something like Apple’s Vision Pro. It’s basically a website where you can wander around a digital stadium with an avatar, play some mini-games, and watch a livestream of the celebrity softball game featuring the likes of influencer JoJo Siwa and actor Adam Devine.
One big feature is that the sound shifts depending on where you steer your avatar in the ballpark.
« When you hear the crowd roar, it’s not a canned thing. It’ll actually be the other people present, » Gersh told Front Office Sports. « More broadly, this takes the experience of being at a stadium and opens it up to a global audience in a way we haven’t been able to do before. Doing experiments like this is really important for us. »
FOS noted that this seemed like a low-stakes way of trying something new for MLB fans. The softball game will be streamed on the virtual stadium’s jumbotron and fans who show up to the digital space will also get access to celeb interviews aired only at the virtual stadium. Interested fans can log on to MLB.com/virtual-ballpark at 9:30 pm ET on July 8 to check it out.
