Non-fungible tokens have proven to be an effective way to generate alternate revenue sources in various industries including sports, arts, cinema, gaming and a lot more. The utility and exclusivity that NFT’s provide is an important factor that has the potential to steer this concept ahead. The sports industry is one where the application of this tech can have massive positive implications and can unlock endless opportunities for teams and sports organisations. Evidence of this has been seen in recent times with the attractive sales that have been happening in the sports NFT world. This also makes NFT’s a great investment opportunity, which in turn will lead to its rapid development in the upcoming times. Teams and players have started to realise this and adopting new ways to implement this in some form in order to cash in on the current situation and rightly deserved hype.
The areas in which NFT’s and blockchain can be used is never-ending as NFT’s have no real prerequisite other than the fact that the token must be pertaining to something unique and one of a kind. Sports fans long for unique perks, and other cool collectables which they can get their hands on, which, once again, highlights how NFTs can be an integral part of the sports world in the near future. Some applications of the concept of blockchain and NFT’s in sports can also contribute valuably to easing the way fans engage with their favourite sportspersons.
The first real application of NFT’s can be seen in the form of digital collectables. Sports cards and other collectables have always been a vital part of any sports fan’s life. Financially the sports collectables market has seen the best of times with wonderful sales figures and extremely high demand for the product. This could translate into the craze for digital collectables which could be brought to fans by using NFT’s. Being digital, it eliminates the issues faced with the previous forms of card-based collectables and makes it more attractive for the fans. Since security is top-notch when it comes to blockchain technology, the chances of counterfeiting and other illegal activities are also considerably lower. Blockchain, as the name suggests is based on the concept of a chain, which provides information on every level of purchase, thus making it secure and hack-proof to a great extent. ITSMYNE is working on listing officially licensed collectables on their marketplace for fans to buy and trade, which makes the whole experience more legitimate as the risk of unlicensed collectables and copyright issues are discarded. NFT’s of practically anything can be minted, be it photos, cards, videos etc, which widens the horizon and allows many new types of collectables. You could buy your favourite moment from a game you watched and be the owner of it. A pretty interesting concept that has immense potential.
NFT’s can find their use in virtual real estate and ticketing applications as well. Fans could buy a unique part of the clubs they love, and that could provide them with exclusive insights, and an overall wonderful experience. The way ticketing works in sports nowadays does have issues like forgery and other legitimacy related issues. The use of a secure system like blockchain can easily eliminate this problem as blockchain provides the information on every transaction made sequentially, therefore the problems of theft and other illegal activities are unlikely to occur. When it comes to ticketing, a lot of resources are used, and considerable damage is done to the environment as well in the case of the use of physical paper-based tickets. The use of NFT’s can also help ease this process, which can help teams increase their profit margins on the tickets and also help save paper.
Certain sporting events including Formula 1 have already explored the NFT gaming space. Combinations of sports and gaming have been seen multiple times in the past, but basing a game on NFT’s adds to the thrill and adds a great sense of ownership in the way fans feel about a particular game. F1 delta time is the game that deals with the collection, trading of unique cars, drivers and components and is based on the Ethereum blockchain.
Fan tokens could turn out to contribute massively to the income of sporting teams. Fan tokens could be purchased by fans, allowing them to contribute to certain decisions and giving them the feeling of inclusivity and a chance to stand out from the crowd as well. Fan tokens have already been issued in the past and the response was noteworthy. Fan tokens based on NFT’s are likely to make this process simpler and also more secure. FC Barcelona had launched their fan token which generated a whopping 1.3 billion dollars in revenue for the club on the very first day. Other clubs including AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Juventus followed suit and launched their own tokens. Fan tokens could help build a wonderful community and help establish a better connection between fans and teams which has its own share of benefits.
Some sporting legends have already launched their exclusive NFT’s which have taken the financial world by storm. Cristiano Ronaldo’s NFT sold for nearly $290,000, Lebron James’s slam dunk NFT for $200,000. Both these numbers were shattered by the staggering $987,000 sale of Tyson’s NFT. Sporting legend Lionel Messi is all set to launch his own NFT on the Ethernity chain.
