The General Manager of the League Ilona Korstin took part in a round table on the topic “Games of the Future” at the “New Approaches” conference.
She spoke about global digital trends in basketball and using the example of the United League, showed unique examples of digital integrations into the sports league for the Russian market.
«Two years ago, the VTB League was able to implement a digital project when we got a cyber basketball tournament among real championship players,- Ilona Korstin noted. – In the sports world, this was the first such project and we were ahead of even the NBA with this. It was interesting for fans to watch how pro players compete in the virtual space. Then it became a great solution – during the pandemic we were able to attract the audience to a new format and we want to repeat this experience of course.
The League follows new trends and actively applying innovations at All-Star Games. Basketball in the dark, flying assistant drones, ALISA as a voice presenter – these innovations, in my opinion, have made our main basketball event unique and interesting for an audience that goes beyond the basketball world.
Taking into account the growing popularity of esports, in one of the All-Star Games we used the «Star Mode» – right during the game highlighting the player whose points doubled over a certain time. There were also special hot zones on the court, from where the hit was 4 points. We made a parallel between a basketball court and a computer game.
In the near future the League will organize another virtual basketball tournament with the participation of professional basketball players and fans. There are also plans to offer teams to create their own cyber teams and develop a digital direction. In parallel with the basketball season, we can also host a championship in cyberspace.»
