Kieran Maguire: Man City may have found the ‘next big thing’ as Metaverse ‘experiment’ underway
Man City may have found the “next big thing” with their first venture into the Metaverse.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about City’s latest high-tech initiative.
As reported by iNews last Friday (18 February), City are working with tech giants Sony to create a Metaverse representation of the Etihad.
Club officials are understood to be confident of selling thousands of tickets to overseas fans in the virtual reality sphere.
Maguire applauded the Premier League champions for their forward-thinking approach.
“City have now got an international fanbase,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“If the fans can’t get to the Etihad, this is a way of getting the Etihad to the fans. All big clubs are looking at the next big thing for revenue in some way.
“Matchday income broadly flatlined for most clubs unless they increase capacity.
“Broadcast money is out of their hands, although the Premier League has done well with the international rights.
“Traditional commercial income has a limited growth because you can’t boost the number of fans that easily, so by extension it’s hard to sell more shirts.
“So this is a way of utilising technology. Given that Sony owns Hawkeye, they have the capacity to do this. It will be slightly experimental.
“It will be interesting to see the price structure but it would be illogical to not try it. Although, we have seen things like 3D TV be trialled and fail.
“This is another attempt by clubs to monetise interest in the Premier League. City happen to be first out of the blocks.”
City earned £62.4million through the turnstiles in the last non-Covid season.
They are next in action against Everton tomorrow (26 February).
In other news, pundit tips Man City star Jack Grealish to explode after what he’s seen on social media.