Months after winning a Super Bowl in their own SoFi Stadium, the Los Angeles Rams are opening some new digs—online.
The Rams launched a “Virtual Rams House” Monday, unveiling a web platform that will host team executives and season ticket holders later this week for an end of season summit but could expand to give LA fans around the world a place to convene, chat and connect year round.
The digital space is powered by 6Connex, which has developed online homes for multinational corporations and is now looking to help sports teams develop deeper relationships with their fans. As the pandemic hit, 6Connex pivoted from setting up sites for single events to creating “perpetual environments that allow for ongoing engagement throughout the journey on an annual basis,” 6Connex CEO Ruben Castano said. “It’s not a one-and-done.”
Seeking to stay in touch with fans during the pandemic, the Rams launched a Facebook group in 2020. As that grew, team executives began looking for an alternative that would be more platform agnostic, allowing for more brand control and opportunities for specialized applications, like chat rooms limited by ticket section or geographic areas.
“We know what our core competency is: It’s bringing fans together,” Rams VP of strategy and ticketing Dan August said. “So we knew we wanted to partner with someone in the space to really bring to life a virtual Rams House, a virtual playground for our fans.” The deal
That playground could include specific kid-friendly areas; fan council and fan cave traditions; and spaces for the Rams to develop their communities in Australia, China and Mexico, where the team was granted marketing rights by the NFL.
For now, the Rams will continue running the Facebook group, with its nearly 5,000 members, as well. The 6Connex deal is set to run for five years.
As blockchain technology develops, the Virtual Rams House could also host commerce or enable special benefits for holders of NFTs sold by NFL partners at Ticketmaster, Dapper Labs and Panini. Sponsorship activations could make their way into the House too.
“I think the environment that we’re launching will evolve in ways we can’t even think of now,” 6Connex CMO Luiz Martins said.
