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Major League Soccer has partnered with Sweet to introduce “MLS QUEST”, a “Gamified Digital Collection Experience”, which centres around the collection of in-game highlights.

Fans can participate for free by visiting official “MLS Quest Pick Up Zones”, found online and in physical locations throughout North America. Participants can find ‘Medallions’ at these “Pick Up Zones”, which reveal a key play from a specific MLS match. After fans collect all four medallions from a match, they will have completed a quest that unlocks a reward.

These rewards include:

Fans can start for free by signing up to MLS QUEST, unlocking a key play highlight from their favourite clubs. They can then build on that in person by attending games or by watching games from home. Fans can also trade and buy players in the “Trade Lounge” and the secondary marketplace respectively.

MLS QUEST marks the first time the league has introduced digital memorabilia in the form of video highlights and is only their second ‘league-wide’ Web3 partnership after a deal with Socios was stuck in mid-2022.

Chris Schlosser, MLS SVP of Emerging Tech said:

For Sweet, this is their second major sports partnership in the U.S. after partnering with the NHL on NHL Breakaway, offering video collectible highlights for hockey fans. They have chosen the Sui blockchain, for this specific partnership.

Tim Mizzone, CEO of Sweet said:

Analysing an activation like this can be challenging. MLS is an innovative, forward-thinking league compared to most in sports, and they are only now conducting their second league-wide crypto activation.

Although MLS QUEST is aimed more towards free, digital fan engagement than a direct clone of NBA Top Shot, it is still worthwhile looking at what the landscape looks like for video highlight products presently.

For NBA Top Shot, the numbers have consolidated over the last 12 months - with volumes between ~$1.3m to ~$4.2m monthly. Corresponding months in October 2022 and 2021 were at ~$4m and $55m respectively, with the monthly volumes in October 2020, months after Top Shot launches at ~$1.7m. Those volumes have come full circle.

Dapper’s NFL product, NFL ALL DAY, has seen similar consolidation. The last 12 months have seen volume within the range of ~$300,000 - $1.8m monthly, but seemingly this product is more impacted by the off-season than its NBA counterpart. Two years prior, in October 2022, NFL ALL DAY saw volumes of ~$8.2m, showing an equally pronounced decline as Top Shot.

Dapper Labs also have products with La Liga (Golazos) and the UFC (UFC Strike). The former has had 128 sales from 9 unique buyers in the past 30 days, whilst UFC Strike has ~$43k in volume in the past 30 days.

FanCraze Cricket, another product using Dapper’s FLOW blockchain is currently outperforming both Top Shot and ALL DAY, with $1.64m in the past 30 days, albeit seeing only 1.3k unique buyers in that period.

Serie A, Italy’s top football division, also tried their hand at video highlights with AERA, but the platform was shut down after a lack of activity.

As mentioned previously in the newsletter, this is Sweet’s second foray into video collectibles — with NHL Breakaway being their first. The volumes for that have been tough to find so far, however.

These propositions all vary in terms of how much of a focal point the video highlights themselves are, but nonetheless it is interesting to note the differences in success they have had.

Video Collectibles - Be all and end all? 📽

While video collectibles seem poised to stay relevant, sustaining the traction remains difficult, especially if the primary driver is revenue. Right now, these are in demand by crypto-centric fans or younger sports fans who are digitally native. But looking at the data, this is a small market for sports that are far bigger than U.S Soccer (NBA & NFL respectively) and therefore expectations should be tempered.

Where I like the MLS QUEST proposition is that there is interaction for both in-stadium attendees and watchers at home, and it is free. I’ve long been saying that these propositions being purely speculative and not joining up the rest of the dots that connect the fan journey is a missed opportunity. Considering this — perhaps the revenue generation and speculation become a secondary consideration, and digital fan engagement is what these parties see as the primary motivator for launching this product.

Overall it remains to be seen how well this will do, especially as it lacks some novelty. With the MLS, knowing their strength lies in innovation, I am surprised that they have not tried to develop something more grandiose and unique. That being said, it will be fascinating to follow how much uptake there is in the free aspect of this proposition, and how many non-crypto users are engaged. If MLS QUEST does go all out in this facet, then the data and connectivity they can generate around this proposition could have a big impact on The MLS’ digital strategy going forward.

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