Is now really the right time for NFT’s in Sports? - do they benefit fans?

We’ve all been following a number of articles appearing in the press and #LinkedIn in recent weeks accusing clubs and teams of misleading fans by encouraging them to buy Tokens and NFTs - such as Imran Rahman-Jones & Liv McMahon on the BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67064824, and there is clearly some confusion between the two - whether there is any point in consumers owning them, and how are the clubs justifying the sales prices to engage fans better in this way? But will NFTs have their day?

Football clubs saw crypto-assets as an easy way to make money post-pandemic, but their value and hype have since declined - mainly because projects were ill-targeted and not thought through properly. Meanwhile, whilst fan tokens can be traded, NFTs are unique. Fan tokens aim to give fans pre-defined voting powers with a club - they are different from NFTs and are regulated by the FCA, providing some additional comfort - and for this reason, many are treating them as a natural stepping stone towards NFTs.

Being first-mover as a tech company like Gladius has its pluses and minuses - it was ever thus - because in reality, we are trying to predict what will be the next big thing - akin to going to China to secure new toys like Fidget Spinners or Hover Boards and betting that this will be the most wanted $1bn toy for Xmas. Even Facebook / Meta’s Reality Labs have lost $21 Billion in 18 months - and it could be argued have done more damage than good by showcasing Nintendo Wii Style Graphics and hardly blowing us the consumers away with their Metaverse vision. But that doesn’t mean they’re wrong, it just means the consumers aren’t ready for change, their own (walled) version of Web 3.0 may not suit all, and they clearly still have work to do to get it ready to really change the market.

Celebrities have lost millions of dollars buying NFTs - like Bored Ape Yacht Club digital artwork, hoping to cash in on the next crypto surge in value where again it looks like they have made the wrong decision - but have they? Is further patience required? Warren Buffet CEO of Berkshire Hathaway annually boasts 20%+ returns for his investors and is especially well known for his ′value investing′strategy - buying stocks that seem to be undervalued and selling them later when they achieve their deserved market value. So actually taking Buffet’s view - “ is now the time for stockpiling crypto and potential NFTs’

Looking ahead to the idea of the #Metaverse -? it’s not just Meta investing heavily - and do we really think Microsoft, Apple, Epic Games with Meta Humans, Nvidia, and the Roblox Corporation using the Sandbox, are also wrong? In reality of course they’re not, they are working purposefully behind the scenes to build the future. Most major companies are building out their own Metaverse in reality it’s a Web 2.0, not Web 3.0 version for many, but rest assured it’s gathering momentum.

Furthermore, Web 3.0 is the definitive example of a decentralised internet, giving the consumers back control, and already many companies are already building Web 3.0-based companies, raising Billions - often with VCs - and fighting to be first to market. Are they also wrong? - or are they at the cutting edge of change for the future of the digital consumer.

Here at Gladius , we are now building the world’s largest sports Metaverse - with our strategic partners, metaverse pioneers Xsolla . We are working behind the scenes and mostly in stealth mode but very soon that’ll all change. This will complete the sports ecosystems that journalists like Leah Asmelash are writing about for CNN https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/15/entertainment/f1-drive-to-survive-sports-docuseries-cec/index.html. We strongly believe in the future of the internet and how it will transform Sport - but in the short term we know that to justify NFTs they have to have real value, some utility, solve real-world existing problems, or at the very least, provide some way to integrate into the owner’s life. So we are therefore pioneering what we are calling NFT 2.0 of GNFTs to do exactly that. Gladius is using the latest technologies to solve real-world problems where NFT owners have utilities, ownership & and loyalties on the platform whilst supporting their favourite club or athlete.

The future is coming but we have to learn from the mistakes of the past, how can we make sports more affordable for the consumer, how can we make watching the sport more engaging, and how can we bring the user into a ‘lean forward’ not ‘lean back’ environment.??

Sport is finally starting to fully embrace tech - moving from a single offering to an ecosystem - and Gladius is building the toolkit to empower Rights-Holders to revolutionise their fan experience over the next few years. In as little as 5 years' time, Sport will bear little resemblance to today’s format.?

As avid sports fans at Gladius, we are excited to try and predict the trends - and capitalize on them, whilst driving our very own ecosystem solution for the industry at large - bringing together many of the innovations showcased by Sports Business Journal yesterday https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2023/11/13/power-players.aspx.

*DM one of us if you want to hear more about our journey.

ITS TIME TO CHANGE THE GAME

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?#gladius #sportsbiz #fans #fanengagement #strategy #future #sustainability #technology #sports #people #sportsbusiness > Dan Innes Oliver Hickey Grant Parker Kirstine Newton Ciaran O'Donnell Tony Chen James R Marley Alastair Moore Marc DeBevoise Chris DABBS Cesar Ortega Massoum Mirzaei, Executive Producer Nicholas Russell

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