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For the first time since launching Sporting Crypto almost three years ago, there is enough news that I’ve been tempted to tweak our cadence to writing editions twice a week.

It feels like there is a ‘Hot Web3 Sports Summer’ brewing.

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Discussed in this edition of Sporting Crypto:

Adidas have launched an NFT collection on the Ethereum layer 2 blockchain Base, created by Coinbase, to celebrate a summer of sports.

As per the collection announcement, adidas is “commemorating the 2024 Summer of Sports onchain by offering fans a unique piece of memorabilia.“

The three editions are as follows:

25,624 owners have minted these editions since the launch and there have been 41,950 total mints. The collections cost 0.00075 ETH (~$2.47) each.

The user experience is simple. This example shows the Coinbase Wallet experience, where users can simply click the NFT edition they want to mint, click the mint button, and it is confirmed almost instantly. Users are then able to view their NFT collectible in their account.

Adidas were one of the early movers in Web3 compared to many brands, and have experimented with blockchain technology several times since.

They burst onto the scene in December 2021, launching ‘Into The Metaverse’ (ITM) — an NFT collection in collaboration with Bored Ape Yacht Club, money and Punks Comics. The drop of 30,000 NFTs sold out and drove $22m in primary revenue. In 2022, adidas saw $10.94 million in revenue from NFTs, including the ITM drop, seeing over 51,000 transactions on the secondary market, with $175.65 million in volume generated.

The next notable launch was ALTS by adidas in April 2023, a Web3 loyalty program with a digital collectable avatar at the heart of it. It is an extension of adidas' initial foray into Web3 with the ITM collection, allowing holders of the original NFTs to burn their tokens in exchange for new ALTS NFTs. It focuses on customisable traits and was rolled out in a three-phase approach, with chapter 3 yet to launch.

Alongside these two notable moments in adidas’ Web3 journey, there have been many other siloed activations and partnerships.

Here’s a chronological view of their Web3 journey so far:

Adidas made a huge splash with ITM in 2021, but to some extent, they were victims of their success.

(Quick plug → We spoke to Tareq Nazlawy in Season 1 of our podcast about the early days of Web3 at adidas…)

It was their first foray and it went well from most perspectives, including PR, revenue and general execution.

Since ITM, they funnelled their success into ALTS by adidas, which when it launched, was anticipated to become a large-scale, hugely successful Web3 loyalty solution for the apparel giant. Almost 18 months later, and that success has not materialised.

This pivot to loyalty rather than simply selling digital content was the right move, but the level of iteration and frequency of shipping the rollout of ALTS is incomparable to the pace at which adidas went to market with ITM. The drivers of this could be as obvious as; there was direct revenue to be made with ITM and adidas just went for it. Or they could be more nuanced. Perhaps after its success, internally the approach to Web3 was formalised, meaning there’s more red tape. Or it could be a technical issue, with Ethereum being difficult to build on at scale without high overheads. Whatever the reason, ALTS has so far flattered to deceive, but adidas hitting the headlines more frequently from Q2 2024 onwards makes me think there could be something brewing.

In their communications for the adidas onchain drop, adidas wrote “Marking the brand's debut mint on Base, adidas is not only celebrating sports but also embracing a future where digital ownership and blockchain technology are accessible to everyone: adidas is Based”

If adidas are “embracing a future where digital ownership and blockchain technology are accessible to everyone” — perhaps it foreshadows their ambitions to be a pioneer of doing exactly that.

From their tech partner’s perspective in this venture — they are firing on all cylinders. The fact that Coinbase are compliant and are publicly traded is easier for brand execs to swallow, compared to an anonymous developer team from a brand new blockchain. Their ‘Summer of Sports’ is going to be fascinating to follow and analyse.

The messaging, in general, is something I find interesting, too. Onchain rather than Web3, NFTs, Blockchain, Crypto or even Digital Collectibles— the new marketing term for brands wanting to disassociate with the troubled connotations previous vocabulary is tarred with has landed this summer.

This summer might be the summer that Web3 in sports goes supernova beyond speculative purposes. It could finally be where we see propositions engage fans in the millions, in a safe way that enhances their fandom.

Here’s to a ‘Hot Web3 Sports Summer’.

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