Crypto Corner: The Sports Slice
Premier League football is the latest sports league to go big with a new blockchain partner, as a deal looks set to close. Meanwhile in European football, one of the sport’s biggest stars has signed a new partnership deal.
However, there is more sports and crypto action outside of European football, which is why we dive in every weekend The sports disc. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest sports news around the world surrounding NFTs and blockchain technology.
The sports disc
Messi signs up with Bitget
Argentine football legend Lionel Messi is not new to crypto. When he signed with Parisian club PSG last year, an undisclosed number of PSG tokens were included in the deal. Earlier this year, Messi continued his involvement by signing a $20 million deal with fan token platform Socios.
A new deal enters the fray this past week courtesy of crypto exchange Bitget. The move comes on the heels of the World Cup, the sport’s biggest event – which takes place every four years – and one which has yet to see Messi lift the trophy.
English Premier League Eyes ~$35M deal with Sorare
Last week’s Slice covered the launch of Sorare’s new NBA fantasy beta platform. No need to pump the brakes now, as Sorare is clearly seeing some speed; Reports have emerged over the past week that Sorare is on the verge of closing a deal worth around $35 million with the Premier League, extending the blockchain fantasy game’s dominance across the soccer vertical.
While the deal is not yet set in stone, it is reportedly close to the finish line and is likely to be a multi-year deal that will encapsulate the league’s 20 clubs for usage rights within Sorare’s fantasy gaming platform. In addition, the deal is believed to be intended to replace an existing deal with ConsenSys, which was also an “almost done” deal, but one that never saw the finish line.
The English Premier League has also been in talks with Dapper Labs.
NuArca Labs, an emerging NFT whitelabel platform, has paired up with the Hong Kong Rugby Union. NuArca typically utilizes the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain. | Source: MATIC-USD on TradingView.com
Hong Kong Rugby Union explores NFTs
The Hong Kong Rugby Union has opened up its own NFT marketplace, according to a press release shared with Bitcoinist. The marketplace comes thanks to a partnership between the Hong Kong Rugby Union and NFT whitelabel platform firm NuArca Labs.
The Hong Kong Rugby Union, the region’s official governing body for rugby, joins a growing list of recognized rugby partners for NuArca Labs, which includes the likes of Major League Rugby and Rugby League World Cup 2021.
Risk level of crypto sponsorship
A new report from SportsPro took a high-level evaluation of current sports sponsorship categories, landing crypto sponsors — which have popped up in sports far and wide — as “high risk.”
The reasoning is justifiable; 2022’s bear market has seen significant reductions in new crypto sponsor entrants compared to last year’s boom. Furthermore, bear market conditions have caused some deals to dissolve, often out of necessity – such as Voyager’s deals with the Dallas Mavericks and the National Women’s Soccer League, or Terra Luna’s deal with MLB’s Washington Nationals.
However, most teams and leagues are willing to have some level of risk in their sports sponsorship portfolio. Crypto sponsors join the likes of betting, technology and even airline sponsors in the “high risk” category.
Sports stadiums in the Metaverse
A new deal between Warner Bros Discovery Sports and Infinite Reality looks set to build out sports arenas in the metaverse. It is Warner Bros Discovery’s first attempt to build fandom in virtual environments aimed specifically at sports environments.
However, it is not the companies first attempt at NFTs or other web3-associated technology. In fact, quite the contrary. The parent conglomerate oversees DC Comics, which is gearing up for Superman NFTs, as our team covered over the past few days. We’ve also seen recent involvement from the Warner Bros behemoth around IP like Lord Of The Rings, and we’ve seen the firm alongside NFT-first companies like Nifty.
What exactly this sports-centric initiative from Warner Bros Discovery will look like remains to be seen, but sports fans should keep an eye out for new AR/VR experiences featuring their favorite sports coming to market in the coming months.
Featured image from Pexels, Charts from TradingView.com
The writer of this content is not associated or affiliated with any of the parties mentioned in this article. This is not financial advice.
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