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Mastercard Launch UEFA Champions League NFT Trivia Game
Mastercard have launched an NFT Trivia game that tests fans on their Champions League history knowledge.
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Introduction šš§
Welcome back to Sporting Crypto!
It was the Super Bowl yesterday andā¦ there were no crypto ads.
Usually for Sporting Crypto, we can bank on one write-up per year discussing how terrible, or on the rare occasion how good, crypto ads during the Super Bowl were.
Increased scrutiny on how crypto is marketed, more cash-strapped crypto businesses, or a lack of global reach have all been touted as reasons why there werenāt any crypto ads this time around.
And this year, it isnāt American Football that has stolen Web3 x Sports headlines, itās the real, the original, association football ā½
š āļø Sporting Crypto Collaborated in the š§šµš² šššššæš² š¼š³ š¦š½š¼šæšš šš®š»š±š¼šŗ Report. Read it here! š Sporting Crypto Event: Barcelona ā We are hosting our first Barcelona event on the 27th of February. RSVP here! š We are looking for sponsors for our events in NYC & Dubai (April) and Berlin & London (June). Email me back at this address if you want your brand to reach some of the most influential leaders in Sport & Web3.
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In this newsletter, we look at Mastercardās launch of an NFT trivia game, in partnership with MoonPay, which tests fans on their knowledge of UEFA Champions League history.
Discussed in this newsletter:
ā½ Mastercardās UEFA Champions League (UCL) NFT Trivia Gameš³ Mastercardās Pass to Priceless NFT Platform š¤Are sponsors the route in?
ā½ Mastercardās UEFA Champions League (UCL) NFT Trivia Game
Mastercard have launched an NFT-powered soccer trivia game that rewards their fans with the possibility of winning match tickets, depending on how they rank in leaderboards.
The competition kicks off with the UCL knockout rounds which begin on the 13th of February. Thirty minutes before the first knockout game, Mastercard customers will be able to collect branded NFT āpassesā through Mastercardās new āPass to Pricelessā platform.
Mastercard have partnered with Moonpay and Polygon to launch the campaign, and it will run until the Champions League Final on June 1st 2024.
The trivia is based on Champions League history and statistics, and winners of each round will be rewarded with UCL match tickets. Depending on how well fans progress, theyāll climb the competition leaderboard. The player sitting at the top of the leaderboard after the semi-final on 30th April 2024 will win tickets to the final at Londonās Wembley Stadium.
Beatrice Cornacchia, EVP of Marketing and Communications in Europe for Mastercard said:
"As a UEFA Champions League partner of 30 years, we know first-hand the unwavering passion that football fans have for the game, so weāre excited to leverage our Web3 platform, Pass to Priceless, to put their passion and knowledge to the ultimate test,"
To summarise the campaign:
Mastercard have sponsored the UCL for 30+ years
Through their new Pass to Priceless NFT platform, Mastercard customers will be able to engage in Web3 fuelled trivia, with winners of each round winning match day tickets.
The best performers at the end of the campaign will be given UCL final tickets
The collectable NFTs are on Polygon, and crypto company Moonpay have supported the creation of the platform and campaign
š³ Mastercardās Pass to Priceless NFT Platform
Mastercardās new āPass to Pricelessā NFT platform is simple to use.
You can easily create an account using your email, and then get started by clicking on ālive programsā.
Users are then able to claim an NFT pass, which they need to enter each trivia round, and are also able to view it in your collection.
Itās pretty seamless, and everything down to the sound design is crisp.
The experience is as easy as making an account on any type of application you can think of. š¤ Are sponsors the route in?
āWhat is the business model here?ā
Thatās the question I, and many of those within an organisation trying to push Web3 are faced with if they have hurdled the inevitable āWhy use blockchain?ā question.
Brands are reticent to allocate budgets to Web3 activities for a variety of reasons, but one of the main ones is the perceived lack of direct ROI from a monetary perspective.
When existing sponsorships are in place, however, the money exchanging hands has already provided the brand an ROI. The sponsor is then responsible for maximising their ROI from the sponsorship inventory they have bought.
In this case, Mastercard are a big sponsor of the UEFA Champions League and are looking at a new and innovative way to engage the audience of the brand they are sponsoring. Mastercard have got a large Web3 footprint, so itās no surprise to see them look in the direction of NFTs.
Weāve seen a plethora of other successful NFT sports propositions that have stemmed from sponsorship. Manchester United and McLaren with their Tezos partnerships for example, have both seen great success with their free-to-claim NFT programs.
Most sports leaders I speak to at the moment are trying to replicate this, from a funding perspective.
The stakeholders theyāre managing upwards like the idea of Web3, whether it be some free collectibles or a fully-fledged loyalty program, but they either donāt have the budget or donāt want to attribute it to something that may not give them a return on that investment. So, those who are looking to push a Web3 project go to potential or existing sponsors and look to fund their proposal in that manner.
There are of course risks and downsides to outside investment in the form of sponsorship funding that could shape to be an extremely important fan engagement pillar in the future.
If itās a blockchain that sponsors the campaign, what happens if they decide not to renew?
This is something weāve yet to see properly play out in the market, but weāve seen hints of it. For example, FIFA have only recently announced a partnership with blockchain Polygon, even though they were previously sponsored, and are still partnered with competitor blockchain Algorand.
Short term, I suspect many Web3 campaigns in sports will be sponsor-driven.
But many are also looking at self-funding their Web3 activities, as they do not want to be bound by sponsorship contracts. Mid-long term, we will see a lot of this, especially as the adoption of digital assets (or their underlying technology) continues to increase.
š” Sporting Crypto Spotlight - Ep. 14 of the Podcast!
In Ep. 14 of the Podcast I was lucky enough to speak to Richard Ayers, Co-Founder of Rematch to discuss Web3 optics in sports and Fandom vs. Audience
Watch the episode on YouTube!
Or your podcast player of choiceā¦ if youād prefer not to see our faces!
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NBA Sued Over Deal With Failed Crypto Exchange Voyager (Read more here)
Karate Combat has risen to become the largest Fan Token in Market Cap (Read more here)
Digital horse racing game ZED Run has announced some major updates (Read more here)
UNKJD Studios has rebranded to UNKJD Soccer, plans to create interconnected sports gaming universe (Read more here)
Can Web3 save eSports? From Sam Barberie (Read more here)
Deloitte & Astar partners to Innovate Sports with Blockchain (Read more here)
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NFT Project Doodles and Gshock have collaborated to create a exclusive watch collection (Read more here)
Disney to take $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games (Read more here)
Japan Airlines and Hakuhodo to launch NFT collection (Read more here)
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