For over a year and a half now, the Doors Sport teams have been assisting the Rugby Club Toulonnais in conceptualizing, developing, and implementing its Web3 and Metaverse strategy.

Let’s delve into this exclusive case study to discover how Web3 and the Metaverse are revolutionizing fan engagement and how sports, particularly rugby, are shaping the future of their organizations.

An ambitious and long-term Web3 and Metaverse strategy with identified quick wins and a network of key partners

After 4 months of strategic reflection, during which the potential offered by Web3 and the Metaverse was explored at the beginning of 2022, along with their opportunities in the context of RCT, the club presented an ambitious strategy focused on 3 major strategic pillars:

• Using NFTs for fan engagement to reward involvement and loyalty, as well as creating unique collectibles of exceptional items related to the club’s history.
• Employing the Metaverse for fan experience to expand RCT’s playing field, reaching out to fans far from Toulon, engaging younger audiences, and bringing new business opportunities to partners through immersive experiences.
• Introducing Gaming to engage new audiences and offer a fresh approach to Rugby, one that is fun and challenging.
  
  

Announced in May 2022 during the Global Sport Week, RCT’s strategy is ambitious, rooted in the club’s values, and aligned with the ongoing vision and strategic initiatives.

Doors Sport also helped RCT select the best actors to implement this strategy operationally, collaborating with Tailor, a recognized NFT platform in the ecosystem; Rinverse, a Marseille-based studio constructing Metaverse experiences; and TheSandbox, one of the largest decentralized gaming-oriented platforms.

“Tomorrow, clubs will largely finance themselves through their digital proposition and assets developed on these channels. It’s a long-term effort that we must initiate today.” — François Pesenti, Executive Director of RCT - Together, we’re reinventing Rugby powered by Web3!

A fan-centric activation for engagement and loyalty, Powered by Web3

The first match of 2023 officially launched the RCT platform for eternity, marking the first step of the Web3 strategy.

The goal is to engage fans and encourage them to collect collector tickets representing memorabilia from their presence at the stadium. These collector tickets are a novel way to get closer to players and experience unique moments.

It’s also a means of learning, training, and familiarizing oneself with these new tools of the future. Becoming pioneers and ambassadors of RCT 3.0.

The process is simple: via a QR code located throughout the stadium (concession stands, LEDs, screens, banners, partner areas), as well as on digital platforms, anyone can collect collector tickets for free or purchase them for €5. These tickets provide access to a range of engaging and unique advantages, from a complimentary drink to a VIP tour of the RCT campus and exclusive moments with players.

The launch coincided with the unveiling of RCT’s dedicated Discord, a new community space where both digitally adept and traditional fans come together to interact before, during, and after matches.

Built on a dedicated platform, the RCT for Eternity initiative was successful during the first half of its launch season and will continue into the next season:

• 1000 active participants on Discord and +3000 messages exchanged per month
• 4500 NFTs distributed (collector tickets, players of the month)
• Collaborations with other collections like OVAL3
• Numerous press articles and interviews
• Initial revenue generated

Creating the first metaverse in French sports: RCT HOUS3

For the launch of the new 23–24 season and the unveiling of RCT’s new clubhouse, the club proudly introduces on September 12th the first metaverse in French sports, a 3D replica of the clubhouse, training field, shop, and event rooms.

The RCT HOUS3 is an immersive and community platform designed to empower fans, players, and club partners to seize the opportunities of new technologies for engagement, gamification, and access to exclusive content, all within a novel mode of interaction.

With features like a 3D shop, virtual meetings between fans and RCT players, gaming, virtual tours, exclusive content, and merchandising, recent technological innovations extend the reach of physical sports events and offer new forms of engagement for fans beyond geographical borders.

Reinventing the fan experience of tomorrow, attracting young and digital-native audiences, uniting all RCT fans regardless of their location, around the club’s values to sustain a sense of belonging beyond borders — these are some of the opportunities that RCT HOUS3 now offers, especially in an era where 50% of the global population is digitally native.