The multi-billion-dollar sports industry is undergoing a digital transformation and Web3 elements are likely to play a major role. This notion was highlighted in Deloitte’s “2022 Sports Industry Outlook” report, which predicts an acceleration in the blending of real and digital worlds, along with growing markets for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and immersive technologies.
According to the report, such advances may lead to a significant increase in fan engagement. This is an important point to consider, given that fan engagement has long served as the backbone for ensuring sponsor revenue, ticket and merchandise sales, along with the overall popularity of a sports league.
Yet as technology advances, sports fans have expressed interest in forming deeper relationships with sports leagues. For instance, the “Stats Perform 2021 Fan Engagement” report notes that sports fans are not only focused on watching sports now but that they also aim to “live” experiences through technological advancements.
Direct relationships with sports leagues
Eyal Donath Zafir, investor and crypto lead at Liberty Global Ventures, told Cointelegraph that Web3 will likely be a game changer when it comes to creating better fan engagement for sports leagues:
“Web3 is the internet with true ownership, as it provides a built-in layer that makes it easy to hold and transfer value. For sports leagues and their fans, Web3 can be a game changer in building direct relationships, aligning incentives and enabling true ownership and influence.”
Zafir added that Web3 projects utilizing decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) models, NFTs and cryptocurrency can demonstrate how owners of a sports property can use technology to perform revenue shares, open intellectual property licensing or take fan votes into consideration.
Although these concepts are still nascent, a handful of sports leagues have started exploring such models. For example, Karate Combat — a full-contact martial arts sports league — recently announced that it will form a DAO to transition its governance to its fans and athletes.
Rob Bryan, founder of Karate Combat, told Cointelegraph that during the summer of 2022, the entire league — including fighter contracts, copyrights, content, intellectual property and more — was sold to a foundation that serves as a legal wrapper for a DAO.
In turn, Bryan explained that there are no longer equity holders of Karate Combat but that the martial arts sports league will…
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