"Future Stories" is a series of interviews with Group employees about their efforts to lead to a future of Space for your Smile.

SKY Perfect boasts more than 20 years of experience in broadcasting professional baseball, and since 2019, we have been providing services that are close to professional baseball fans, such as Broadcasting and streaming all official games.

At the same time, amid concerns about a decline in the number of baseball players in the future due to the declining birthrate, we are also working on activities that will keep the enthusiasm for sports alive. We have also launched a new service aimed at a community of fans who can enjoy baseball broadcasts with retired players.

We spoke to two passionate people who are committed to planting the seeds of the future of baseball.

―――Members Interviewed

From left to right: Mr. Sato, Mr. Matsumoto

About the Contents of 'amateur baseball' in relation to sustainability

―――Can you tell us about what you do in relation to sustainability in your work?

Mr. Sato: I'm in charge of the baseball genre, but in terms of sustainability, I think the raison d'être of professional sports is to contribute to the local community through sports and entertainment, and to develop the community sustainably.

Of course, it is important for us to join one ticket in front of us, and it is important for the club to sell one ticket in front of us, but we also believe that we must focus on activities that keep the 'enthusiasm for sports' alive in order to sustainably develop the region.

As an initiative for the future of baseball, we are focusing on amateur baseball from students to professionals. While the number of children is steadily decreasing due to the declining birthrate, I believe that by taking up amateur baseball as a Contents, the number of children who will continue to play baseball with this goal will increase, and if they have the opportunity to come into contact with baseball and continue to have baseball enthusiasm without cooling down, it will eventually lead to the return of professional sports. I have been working since last year with the desire to work together with the baseball team to help them do so.

Since its launch in March 2020, Sports Live+ has been broadcasting the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks' first-team games, and not only that, but we also want to focus on efforts to broaden the base of baseball, so we have sent out a message that 'we will cover a wide range of amateur baseball.

In fact, FY2022 implemented three Contents in cooperation with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

The first is the Hawks Cup, a baseball tournament in which junior high school students participate, to determine the No. 1 club team from nine prefectures in the Kyushu, Okinawa, and Yamaguchi regions. Last year, we streamed this live from the quarterfinals for free Broadcasting and free of charge.

The second is the Hawks Juniors, which also started with the first round of selection, and the 16 Hawks junior players who were finally selected will participate in a tournament called the NPB Junior Tournament at the end of the year, and we made a documentary program that closely followed them for about six months from August.

The third is the Queen's Tournament, where teams from the high school, college and adult categories of girls will compete in the final eight-team tournament. We streamed the broadcast of the final match of the tournament.

Girls join the boys' baseball team with the boys until elementary school, but in junior high school, they go to softball because there is no baseball team. It is better to have an environment where you can continue to do what you want to continue.

I don't think it's kind of to say, 'Softball for girls and baseball for boys.' We can't change the environment drastically, but I think we can do our best if we show them that we have a goal, such as having a tournament called the Queen's Tournament, and having a team like this when you go to high school, and a strong team called All Queens. It is also a Contents that has the meaning of letting people know about such things, and it is truly connected to sustainability and the SDGs.

We are distributing Broadcasting and distributing everything for free, because we want this Contents to be widely known to the world, and if there is something like this, we want people to do their best. We are working on these with the Hawks, and they have said, "I'm glad we teamed up with SKY Perfec!," so we are also working on them with a lot of enthusiasm. I think this will be "one of our future signings" and "one ticket" for the Hawks. We don't have immediate returns, but that's what we're doing with a sustainability mindset.

―――What's been the response?

Mr. Sato: The people involved, parents, and local people are very happy with the free Broadcasting and free distribution, and that's kind of natural, so my next goal is to get more people outside of that to see it. The next step is to reach people who play baseball, such as those who have children who play baseball or parents who want to play baseball in the future, to make sure that they have this kind of Contents.

Mr. Matsumoto: Sports Contents is currently being consumed, and I think it is very important to create goals through sports Contents for the "sustainability" of the sport of baseball in the future. I also played baseball as a child, but there is an atmosphere that Koshien is the ultimate goal, and if you can't aim for it, it won't have much value as a competitive sport. I would like to convey to local children that there is a large tournament in the region, even if it is not Koshien, and that they can aim for that tournament.

―――I hope it will be a tournament that children want to aim for in the future.

Mr. Matsumoto: The motivation is completely different depending on whether you are Broadcasting on TV or not, and if you are shown from the same camera angle as professional baseball, you will want to do your best.

Mr. Sato: Recently, it has become possible to distribute videos at a low price, so there are places that distribute videos, but the quality of what we are making is completely different from the quality that we are making, when the general public just plays it without turning the camera and editing it. Our company is made by the same production members as professional first-team matches, and we also include information from each person, so I think the satisfaction level is different. It seems that there are many production directors who want to do something like that, and they sympathize with us and do their best to make something that exceeds our expectations.

―――I am very sympathetic to the intention of sowing the seeds of the future that you just mentioned, but I think it is difficult to reap immediate profits.

Mr. Sato: I would like you to persuade me together (laughs). First of all, I think that the most ideal model is to increase the value of Contents itself and receive money from sponsors who sponsor it, so that this is not a Contents that can be joined in the first place, but it is not necessary. However, at the current value, it is difficult to find a place that can give a large amount of money for the Broadcasting(broadcast), so we have to aim for a place where we can sponsor about the cost of our production, although we have not been able to do it yet. I would like to show these activities to the company and work with the sales staff.

Awareness of Sustainability and Materiality

―――How do you perceive sustainability and materiality within your department and on an individual basis?

Mr. Sato: I think what is required of the media now is not only the current Broadcasting and distribution, but also the need to constantly think about whether there are any new ideas, and even if the ideas are not adopted, we must continue to propose.

Where there are challenges, new initiatives are needed, and I think materiality is a place to return to when you think about what those issues are. The theme of materiality is to create a society where diverse human resources can play an active role, but when we came up with the "Carp Prefecture" service, we thought that it was an issue in the baseball world, and the fact that we were making it an issue as a company was the starting point for thinking about the service. When I think about new things, I try to take materiality into account.

Mr. Matsumoto: I don't think I often focus on materiality in my work. First of all, I think the best thing is to ensure the survival of the company and protect the employees of this company and their families. You don't have to think only about what is good for the world and for people without thinking about profit. In the process of increasing the company's profits and presence and expanding the base of the Contents that handles it, if amateur baseball tournaments go out into the world and lead to the success of diverse human resources and the creation of employment, such as former professional baseball players who can become coaches and commentators, new jobs will be created there, and we will be able to give back not only to the players but also to the people around them. As a result, I think it will lead to the perspective of materiality.

New Service "Carp Province"

―――Next, can you tell us about the new service "Carp Province"?

Mr. Sato: We are creating a 2D metaverse space that mimics Hiroshima Prefecture, with Mazda Stadium in the center and Yu in the upper left. You can enter this space and enjoy the game and communication. You can turn on the camera and microphone, so you can voice, video, or text chat with people who come near you.

What we wanted to do in this metaverse space is connected to the 'diverse human resources' that we talked about earlier, and there are many fans who want to enjoy baseball with young retired players.

We have the distribution rights and can play the video, so we can have alumni come to the Carp Prefecture as performers and watch the game with you. We want viewers to have the freedom to choose who they want to enjoy a three-hour baseball broadcast with. As a result, this leads to the work of alumni who do not usually appear on TV, and it also leads to supporting them. I came up with this project because I wanted to do something that fans would enjoy. If you are appearing on TV, including traveling from a distance, it will take one day, but if you are online, the time constraint will be shortened, so it would be nice if the service would expand to include such advantages.

I'm going to actually go inside the Carp County ballpark, for example, if you go into someone's favorite room, you can chat only in this space. In this way, we have created a number of spaces where people who share the same passions can gather and have conversations. I want it to be a place where people who can't actually go to the stadium but want to watch the game with someone else can gather.

Before entering the Carp County Ballpark

Carp Prefecture, inside the stadium

You can watch the game while having a group chat with the people who actually participated here, and have a direct conversation with the guests, such as the former coach of Hiroshima. It's not often that you get the chance to talk directly with a former director. I want to realize what can only be done online, and I think it would be great if we could get to know each other here and have communication to go to the ballpark together in real life. It would also be nice to be a place for Carp fans outside of Hiroshima Prefecture to meet and communicate.

However, it's hard to jump into a service that you don't know well, so it's definitely going to be a struggle at first.

Mr. Matsumoto: It's expensive, so business feasibility is required here as well.

You can have a group chat while watching the game broadcast.

Mr. Matsumoto: We thought that it didn't have to be 3D to do what we wanted to achieve, but that 2D would be sufficient.

In rural areas, there are many people who are outside the prefecture, so it is difficult to return to your hometown for the reunion, but if you do it online, you can easily get together and hold an alumni reunion, and if you have something to do, you can leave immediately. For example, we envision the development of learning by gathering children here and creating various classrooms for each subject of interest.

(Interview date: May 23, 2023)

The Group will continue to provide exciting experiences by combining the appeal of sports and entertainment that only SKY Perfect can provide. We will actively contribute to the future of baseball with a wide range of stakeholders, specifically children, communities, customers and Partners, and everyone who loves baseball.