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Intro Notes, Plugs & Amendments 🔌🔧

Writing this now, I completely forgot that I’d not written an intro in the previous edition of Sporting Crypto!I want to thank every reader as we come up to 1000 subscribers. 

This newsletter only started in September 2021. The quality of the audience is unbelievable. I wish I could share with you who is reading, but I’d be in breach of GDPR laws, I’m fairly sure!I also want to thank readers because I didn’t think this newsletter would monetise for at least 12 months at a bare minimum. To do so in 4-5 months is really amazing, and allows me to work on the newsletter for longer and give it the care and love it deserves!

Maybe I should drop a commemorative NFT that is airdropped to the first 1000 subscribers? 

🚨🔌 Today’s Sporting Crypto is brought to you by FlipFam! 🔌🚨Before we get into things, this is the first edition of Sporting Crypto brought to you by the FlipFam app! Users play prediction games in a Tinder-like swiping fashion where the best performers win NFTs! It's free to play and you can win some pretty cool NFTs by some awesome designers. 

For sports brands, this presents an opportunity to engage fans in a non-financialised way. There's no need to buy NFTs or a token and there's nothing to trade unless winners of these NFTs want to try and sell them on a secondary market. This is a lightweight way to introduce your audience to web3. They're launching soon and are run by a great group of people. Check them out in the link below! Hopefully, they are the first in a new wave of sports crypto projects that actually try and engage fans in a novel and new way.

Check FlipFam out here!

🔌 I was on the Are You Not Entertained podcast!

🔌 If you're interested in sponsoring the newsletter - feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Story of the week

Tezos become Manchester United’s official blockchain partner

I’m cheating a bit here because this actually happened about ten days ago or so. But it’s something that I’ve been mulling over, speaking to people about - and I think I have something to write about now.

What is Tezos

Tezos are another layer one blockchain solution (like Ethereum, Solana etc.) that utilise smart contracts so that developers can build applications on top of them.

The technicalities of Tezos aren’t very important right now. They’re a smart contract blockchain solution that has a cryptocurrency that fuels it.

We’re at a point now where these deals are so, so big that it’s worth asking what they actually are…?

Tezos have become Manchester United’s training kit partner. But as per the release on Manchester United’s website:

That sounds like more than just a training kit sponsor.

And I’m very, very interested to see what Tezos do with Manchester United - particularly as that is worded as much more than just a training kit sponsor.

But what have the football giant given away here?

If this is more than a training kit, what rights have Manchester United given away?

I think we’re at a point in time where many football clubs are looking at this in the same way they looked at digital rights in the early 2000s. We’ve all heard the horror stories of brands selling their digital rights and then having to buy them back at 10x what they sold them for because they didn’t know what they were actually giving away.

I fear (and I don't know this for sure, to clarify) that football clubs don’t quite know what they’re giving away here.

Is Tezos now Manchester United’s Web3 partner? If Manchester United were to do NFTs, would they have to be on Tezos? The grey areas and unknowns mean this space can be very tricky for brands to operate in. And I’m sure with Manchester United’s financial firepower, their lawyers have covered them well here, but it’s still food for thought.

We’ve seen issues like this crop up before. For example, the Argentinian FA is being sued by Socios for striking a fan token deal with Binance, one of the world’s largest exchanges.

I think this is becoming the equivalent of, if, when Facebook first came out, you signed an exclusive deal with them to be your ‘social media partner’.

Now, this doesn’t feel exactly like that very crude example, but I think football clubs in particular (US sports franchises seem to be far better versed…) need to really get to grips with what they’re signing away.

There’s a big grab going on right now for the Premier League’s NFT rights. But there are four companies in the running here, whilst La Liga has multiple NFT partners. But even in the NFT microcosm of web3, things could get tricky. If you give away the entirety of your NFT rights - does that cover literally all forms? Game related, video, static and more? Do you sell all of those individually? These are unprecedented areas of the law that we’re walking into, I think, as someone who’s not a legal professional.

These are all questions that football clubs and leagues, in particular, are talking about internally, I’m sure.

Football clubs and leagues need to protect themselves in terms of what exactly they’re giving away. There are many grey areas, but protecting their brands is imperative.

This new world is being built on the fly. But brands of the size of some of these football entities can’t afford to dabble in deals in the same way.

There’s just too much to lose, even beyond money.

Are crypto sponsorships bad?

There’s an interesting debate about crypto sponsorships.

Should people be exposed to crypto products, especially if they’re unregulated?

The answer is: it’s complicated

First of all, and a lot of whatabouteries here, but we have alcohol brands, fizzy drink brands, energy companies that ruin the environment, all part of the football economy from a sponsorship standpoint.

Secondly, the regulation of products does not guarantee safety and can be quite constraining. In fact, a lot of Americans have flocked to crypto because of accredited investor laws (which are bullshit, btw). At the same time, companies that offer crowdfunding and stocks & shares trading in the world all harbour significant risks. Have a look at Paypal, Meta & Peleton’s share price charts. They look like, as we like to call them in the industry, shitcoin charts (rubbish crypto assets that will definitely trend to zero).

Thirdly, Crypto sponsors do have the ability to surprise and delight fans like non-crypto companies cannot. The ability to launch digital experiences, create digital drops that are stadium bound (see FTX at Golden State Warriors for the 75th anniversary of the NBA) for free.

Lastly, should we be exposing, especially our younger generation to digital assets if we think there’s a strong chance they play a role in our future lives? It’s also another interesting perspective. LeBron James seems to think so, considering his partnership with Crypto.com.

None of the above means that crypto or web3 currently have a net positive in the world of sports.

It’s just another perspective. I also think it’s difficult to say whether they’ve had one or not because it’s different for every sport. I’d say the NBA for example has had a much more successful start to life in ‘web3’ than Football Associations.

There are going to be more bad deals. More lawsuits. More unrest from sports fans.

Overall, however, I hope that the future of where web3 meets sports, and football especially, matures to be something that is actually additive to the fan experience.

More big sports crypto stories & things to put on your radar

• The premier league has received bids valued up to $590m over 4 years for NFT rights

• Sony & Manchester City are to create the world’s first football stadium in the metaverse

• Sotheby’s is selling a Kobe Bryant worn shooting shirt and an NFT commemorating his 81-point game.

• Jimmy Butler says “do your own research”

• Candy Digital have dropped their NFT

• The Super Bowl was big for crypto companies. 

• The NFL has lobbied congress on issues related to blockchain technology…

• Red Bull sign $50m/year sponsorship with Bybit

• Maybe something coming soon from Gary Vee and crew :eyes:

• Fan tokens in Football are the opposite of mooning right now

• Alpine F1 strike deal with Binance

Great reads, great tweeting and more general ‘stuff’

• I’m not one for politics. But it’s becoming increasingly likely that we do need crypto. 

• Again, this thread is a must-read

• Open Sea volumes are still crazy

• Snoop Dogg is seemingly going all-in on web3

Thanks!

Thanks for reading the latest edition of the Sporting Crypto newsletter. I’m really happy to see so many people enjoying it and sharing it with their networks. If you enjoyed this, please tell your friends who might be interested - and share it on social :)