Baseball is built on centuries’ old rivalries that still divide today. Whether it’s video games, rap battles or twitter beefs, rivalry is a huge part of millennial’s lives. MLB Battlegrounds was an incredible collision of sport, culture and tech that saw baseball’s historic rivalries reimagined for a new audience.

MLB Battlegrounds pitted cultures of two iconic American cities - L.A and Boston - against each other. Whether it was Virtual Reality gaming, street food, music or baseball itself, we always asked our audience to pick a side.

On June 30th, at London’s Pop Brixton we hosted a two day Boston vs L.A. culture clash. DJs from London radio station NTS went head to head playing Boston and L.A. music, with food and drink adding to the competition. At the heart of the experience was a VR batting cage, where spectators became sports stars.

On the 4th July we turned up the competition, taking baseball to the main stage of a music festival, British Summer Time in Hyde Park. We invented a brand new sporting format inspired by the Home Run Derby, and challenged MLB All Stars and current England cricketers to hit baseballs off the Main Stage into a mosh pit of new fans. Millions more tuned in online via a bespoke Twitter Live broadcast.

-30,000 people attended across the two events

-80% of attendees were under 34

-61% were non-baseball fans

-81% of non-baseball fans had a better impression of MLB after attending the events

-1 Million people watched the Twitter Live broadcast of the Home Run Derby, compared to an average of 300,000 for MLB regular season games broadcast on the platform.