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The Word Non-Fungible Token is not an ununderstandable Jargon anymore. NFTs are digital assets that are stored on the blockchain and can be used for a variety of different purposes. Sports NFTs are digital assets that represent real-life sports items, such as football player cards or a clip of a famous Basketball moment.
There are many use cases of NFTs in the sports industry. One of them is to provide fans with an opportunity to own a piece of a digital collectible of their favorite team – without having to wait in queues or buy expensive tickets and merchandise. NFTs are getting increasingly popular among popular brands as well for customer engagement, while in the sports sector, it is serving as one of the best ways to bring better fan engagement.
Here is a blog to give you insights on the influence of non-fungible tokens in the sports industry and how they are serving fans globally.
Table of Contents
The first NFT sports marketplace!
NFTs came into the spotlight only in 2021, but the concept of giving tradeable ownership of a digital file on the blockchain came out in 2015. Since then, NFTs have started to grow at a slow pace, and the spark ignited and started spreading like wildfire in 2020. Though many of them didn’t have an idea of what NFT is all about, they welcomed the idea of getting tradeable ownership of interestingly new technology.
Coming to sports, Basketball fans are the ones who got the chance to experience NFTs for the first time. It all started with the first-ever sports marketplace that got popular- The NBA Topshot marketplace, which is a licensed product of the National Basketball Association. NBA Top Shot is a marketplace for NFT collectibles of NBA players, where you can buy, sell, and trade digital collectibles of your favorite players.
NBA top shot offers fans the chance to follow their favorite team and players and their latest release of official collectibles. Fans can also purchase and own clips of iconic basketball moments of a favorite team or a player. Recently, the marketplace has achieved a trading value of more than a billion dollars which is the first and only sports marketplace to do so.
This marketplace has been a paradise for NBA fans, making them own a piece of history. They are not just digital collectibles or memorabilia for the fans. They are also an asset that is as worthy as a rare artifact!
Sports and blockchain!
It is to be noted that the developers of NBA top shot came up with a separate blockchain- The flow blockchain to bring a seamless experience to NFT transactions. This flow blockchain was meant for NFT only, which gave rise to a series of the sports-based marketplace on the same chain. NBA top shot was then followed by NFL all day, an official NFT sports marketplace for all the Football fans. The National Football League launched the platform officially for all football fans in the world. Not just NFL all day, UFC Strike- An NFT marketplace for the fans to get iconic UFC moments ad NFTs also got launched with Flow Blockchain.
Following these sports, many other sports, including Formula1, Horse races, Cricket, Soccer, and more, made their way into the blockchain industry with sports-based NFTs. Many not only came as a collectible, but they also came with utilities to bring a better fan engagement with new technology. Sports NFTs became famous in mid 2020, even before the NFT boom in 2021. Fans were fascinated with new technology being used to get connected with their favorite teams and stars.
Fans and sports NFTs!
Initially, Fans were excited about owning the clips of owning iconic moments on the blockchain through Non-fungible Tokens. But as NFTs became popular, many innovations were added, and many utilities came along with it. This is to bring a good engagement with the fans from the sports stars and the team they love.
Later, sports NFTs came as a way to purchase official player cards of the players digitally. This then gave way for innovations and utilities that came behind to take over the sports industry. NFTs for official merchandise or even to become a part of an official sports fan club was one among them.
The concept of the token gated community rushed into the blockchain proving the worth of NFTs was beyond them. Owning NFTs from the official sports club to take part in official opening events, home games, official club meets, and many other perks came for the community.
Sports NFT games
Apart from collectible and utility NFTs, gaming NFTs based on sports also emerged. These NFTs not only hold value in the sports realm but also has a real-time utility through which you can get both the fun of the sport and monetary benefits through it. Play to earn NFT games is something that is gaining momentum in the gaming industry. Games and sports always go hand in hand, and with Non-fungible Tokens and blockchain, you can expect an entertainment blast with these games.
There are much play to earn games and NFT games that came out to engage with sports and game lovers. It is a fact that fantasy based NT games with cricket NFTs and football based NFTs are getting huge attention from fans all over the world.
If you ask if this is a better way of fan engagement, of course, it is. People always love new technologies and innovations in the entertainment that they already enjoy. Web3 with blockchain and NFTs are bringing both fans and customers together, making way for huge exposure to this next generation technology.
Outlook
Sports NFTs today are still at their primary stage with art, player cards, video clips, and basic utilities. As the days progress, the concept of NFTs will also get updated with time, and this will take fan engagement in the sports industry to the next level. It is a fact the number of sports based NFT marketplace platforms are increasing in number every month, yet; only a few marketplaces are getting millions and billions of trade volume and attracting fans as well.
Read more: How Much Does It Cost to Make an NFT?
