Business Insider
David Levy, Maverick Carter, and Brad Allen discuss the future of sports at IGNITION 2016.
Digital is influencing just about everything these days, and sports are no exception.
At IGNITION 2016, Business Insider's Alyson Shontell sat with Brad Allen, executive chairman at NextVR; Maverick Carter, CEO of SpringHill Entertainment and Uninterrupted; and David Levy, president at Turner, to talk about the future of sports in the digital age.
Allen, Carter, and Levy all agreed that the modern sports audience is interested in more than just the game: They're interested in the people playing.
"They care about what those athletes are interested in and care about, what their causes are," Carter said.
According to Levy, the NBA crosses into pop culture more so than other sports. The players are heavily involved in social media and advertising. "That all adds up to people wanting to embrace the NBA," Levy said.
That's where Bleacher Report's Uninterrupted comes in. "Uninterrupted is a digital network that's built to help athletes tell their stories," Carter said.
While the media might cover a game one way, this platform allows athletes to share their perspective. "It's not about not trusting the media, it's about being able to not be taken out of context and being able to tell a different story," Carter said. "The best story, told the best way, in a format that people can digest, always wins."
Similarly, the world of VR is gaining more ground in sports. With VR, you can experience the game as if you were actually there. You can put microphones on the players and cameras in the locker room, huddles, and tunnels. "Having that access to the star, the player, giving it in his own face is great content," Levy said.
VR could allow you to watch a game at your house with your friend who's at his house. "We're talking each other and it's like we're there courtside watching the game," Allen said. "That's where it's going."
So how soon can we expect to see VR frequently intertwined with sports? "It's not like 5, 10 years down the road," Allen said. "It's in the next couple of years."
We're excited to see what's to come!
To learn more about the future of digital, be sure to attend Business Insider's IGNITION 2017!
We'll be announcing the speaker lineup throughout the next few months, and you won't want to miss it. Business Insider IGNITION 2017 is taking place November 29-30 at the Time Warner Center in New York City. Right now we're offering Extra-Early-Bird tickets that will save you $1,000 - don't miss out!
To hear more from Allen, Carter, and Levy, check out the full interview below (the segment starts at 1:51).
