Predicting everything from “bundling” of digital and live activities to stadium events featuring gamers slaughtering invading aliens, Ted Leonsis sees a future in which the experiential and the digital intertwine.
Leonsis, owner of the Washington Wizards basketball team and former executive with Groupon and AOL, spoke of a day when technology will support people’s spirits.
“Millennials today don’t want to own anything. They don’t want to buy cars; they don’t want to own homes,” he said at Winsight’s FSTEC conference, held earlier this fall in Washington, D.C. “They want the experience. They want to chase monkeys in Costa Rica.”
Before about 500 foodservice operators and convenience-store retailers, Leonsis described several trends, including “super-cities,” millennials’ preference for experience over ownership and a growing disconnect between consumers and traditional forms of service and content delivery.
Regarding his business of the pro-basketball experience, Leonsis looks beyond selling Verizon Center seats or cable rights, especially in an age when college kids are forgoing cable TV.
“They’re called ‘cord cutters,’ ” he said. “Back when, it was hard-wired cable, with [an] Xbox and Slingbox. In just four years, we’ve become wireless.”
Going forward, Leonsis expects a new kind of bundling that ties experiences to technology. He sees a $99-a-month pass that pairs streaming basketball games with rock climbing or spinning classes: “It’s a rejection of the video-on-subscription experience that technology enables.”
Another possibility lies with virtual simulators. Describing a helmet that offers a 360-degree courtside experience, Leonsis envisions an entire stadium of people wearing such devices. Major sports channels are already talking about stadium events at which people watch a handful of gamers destroy virtual aliens, he said.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.