GreenPark Sports, a social sports gaming developer, has entered into a multi-year agreement with Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Major League Soccer Players Association (MLSPA) to create a metaverse environment that will drive fan engagement.
GreenPark Sports’ application features a variety of fan ‘universes’ based on major sports and esports competitions, where users can play games, enter contests, and collect items for their avatar.
Starting this season, MLS fans will be able to create avatars with officially licenced accessories and participate in games and in-match challenges against friends and supporters of rival teams.
Because of this collaboration with the MLS, this experience can be immersed with real-time match data to build live fan engagement events and parties, through which, fans can win prizes such as merchandise and other prizes.
Chris Schlosser, Senior Vice President of emerging ventures, MLS, said, “MLS is excited to partner with GreenPark to bring new cutting-edge digital experiences to life for MLS fans around the globe. We have set up our emerging ventures group to help great young companies easily partner with MLS, our clubs and properties. GreenPark has a fantastic founding team, and we are proud to work closely with them in their quest to build the future of fandom.”
GreenPark is one of several companies betting on growing demand from sports fans for immersive, digitally-native experiences that make up the ‘metaverse’ – a persistent, virtual environment that serves as a digital counterpart to the physical world.
The metaverse is becoming increasingly important to sports organisations, and MLS has joined the likes of League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), Spanish soccer’s LaLiga, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a GreenPark partner.
Last year, the Los Angeles-based company raised US$31 million in a Series B funding round and is considering incorporating non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into its platform.
Tony Grillo, Chief Strategy Officer at GreenPark Sports, said, “GreenPark continues to build and evolve the go-to virtual world for fans, one that celebrates, measures and rewards [fandom] and will drive newfound engagement and value for leagues.
“With our new partnerships with MLS and the MLSPA, soccer fans can play and compete in a variety of social experiences augmented by live data. Fans can band together to prove their fandom and collect exclusive prizes on GreenPark’s mobile app. We are committed to building a one-stop rewarded fan experience and a multi-sport virtual community, and having MLS and its players join our roster accelerates this mission.”