Forget the “crypto winter” and the FTX crash, blockchain technology remains the future of consumer relationship management (CRM) and holds the key to unlocking amplified consumer/fan engagement in the world of sports. Many of the leading consulting firms, including Accenture
ACN
Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, and McKinsey & Company have released research reports expressing positive views on the potential for blockchain technology and NFTs to transform the way sports teams and leagues promote fan loyalty.

The reason, according to his research, is that blockchain technology provides valuable tools for both the token issuer (NFT) and the recipient. For the broadcaster, it improves the quality of their fan data. For the recipient (the fan), blockchain technology, through NFTs, gives those fans unprecedented benefits that they can actually own, trade, or sell on a controlled market.

And it’s coming faster than you think. The main barrier to mass adoption was the need to create a crypto wallet like Metamask, which required some knowledge of the crypto currency. As a result, adoption was limited to a rabid but niche community. However, recent technological advances have made adoption easy and make issuing and collecting these NFTs simple for anyone, even those who don’t have any knowledge of cryptocurrency or how to set up a traditional “wallet.”

Think of an NFT simply as a receptacle or connective tissue for anything a fan values, whether it’s digital goods or access (collectibles and admission to special places in the Metaverse) or things in the real world like tickets, merchandise, food and drinks, experiences and even the right to vote. The beauty of issuing these assets in the form of NFTs is that they are registered on the blockchain and can be used, traded or sold by fans on a marketplace created by the issuer.

For the broadcaster, the “wallet” provides a treasure trove of data that helps it better understand the fan and learns from the “wallet” the behavior patterns of its fans, allowing the broadcaster to better understand them and provide incentives to engage in the desired behavior.

It has its origins in the collectible space fueled by the huge success of Dapper Labs NBA Top Shots. Dapper and the NFL have partnered on a similar project called NFL “All Day” that allow fans watching a game to own collectible moments.

FIFA has also entered the space by partnering with the Algorand blockchain.
SOMETHING
to launch its FIFA+Collect program that allows fans to own digital collectibles featuring iconic moments from the FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup, claiming to reach 3 to 5 billion people.

However, the collapse of the digital collectibles market has caused many of these stakeholders to back off. NBA Top Shots creators Dapper Labs just laid off 22% of their workers as the collectible market crashes and C.andy Digital, a division of fans, did the same with 1/3 of your employees

Despite all of this, the market opportunity is ripe for growth as attention shifts from NFTs as mere collectibles to NFTs that represent a fan’s right to “own” the things that are most attractive and valuable to them, to often through dynamic gamified experiences. NFTs will for the first time unlock the right for fans to own, trade or sell these assets in a controlled market and will be used to track and reward fans for attending games or events, purchasing merchandise or participating in social media campaigns and They might even give them voting rights on team-related decisions (solely at the team’s discretion, of course). This will create a more immersive and interactive experience for fans and help the team better understand and engage with their audience. All of this is coming and it’s just a matter of how fast.