Brooklyn Nets look to become the first team in the metaverse

By Gabe Friedman

The Brooklyn Nets are entering the metaverse, it seems. And they expect their fans to follow them.

The team has applied for a trademark for “Netaverse,” a play on the word for a virtual reality world that Mark Zuckerberg made popular when he renamed Facebook as Meta last fall.

In their applications, first reported on by Boardroom, a site co-founded by Nets star Kevin Durant and his manager Rich Kleiman, the team aims to create “three dimensional multi-camera virtual reality game services,” which would offer a more immersive viewing experience for fans.

The technology was teased on the YES Network, which airs the Nets’ games, during a game on Jan. 15.

Welcome to the Netaverse! @Grady details a historic debut. #netaverse pic.twitter.com/dmrtn09xd6

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) January 16, 2022

Host Michael Grady explained that there will be 100 high-resolution cameras placed throughout the Barclays Center that feed into a “three point video system” created by Canon to create “lifelike 3-D renderings” of gameplay.

Grady called it a “video game come to life in a volumetric space that provides a true 360 degree experience.”

While the specifics are scant at this point—and a Nets spokesperson did not return with requests for comment as of this writing—the team is claiming to be the first pro sports team in the U.S. to implement such technology.

One significant part of the patent application involves virtual merchandise—jerseys and the rest, likely in NFT form, perhaps purchased with cryptocurrency. Brands such as Nike and Puma have jumped into the virtual swag realm, and Nets owner Joe Tsai told NetsDaily in the fall that he wants to use crypto “to engage fans,” so. There’s that.

If you’ve been wondering what James Harden’s beard looks like really up close and personal, or if you want an NFT version of his jersey, your chance might be coming.

Correction: Due to an error in editing, an earlier version of this story described Durant as an anti-vaxxer. Kyrie Irving is the Nets player who remains a vaccine holdout.