Chapter 7: Sports

There are millions of fans around the world, and sports unite people from different countries and backgrounds. When supporters from various walks of life gather to watch their favorite teams and players compete, it has become a form of camaraderie.

NFTs introduce a new way for sports teams and athletes to engage with fans, providing ordinary fans with another means to support their favorite teams and players. This development opens a new era of sports collectibles, allowing fans in some cases to have a say in decisions within their favorite clubs.

Most sports NFTs function as trading cards or game characters, allowing users to participate in exciting events and compete against each other in fantasy games. Some sports teams also offer additional benefits, unlocking perks upon purchasing NFTs, such as the chance to meet your sports heroes in person and influence team decisions.

Several NFT projects, including NBA Top Shot and Sorare, have secured rights to collaborate with major sporting events. On the other hand, Chiliz focuses more on enhancing fan engagement through fan tokens, which unlock exclusive benefits, including limited edition NFTs. In this chapter, we will introduce some of these sports NFT projects and how they are changing the landscape of sports.

NBA Top Shot

For basketball fans, NBA Top Shot is the perfect platform. Here, you can buy and sell Moments, which are officially licensed NFT clips of your favorite players. You can think of Moments as traditional basketball trading cards with a modern digital twist. Each player has different styles and versions. Each Moment has multiple copies and is marked with either a Circulating Count (CC) label or a Limited Edition (LE) label. A CC label means that the supply of that Moment may increase further after new releases, while an LE label indicates that no new copies of that Moment will be released in the future.

The first step to starting your collection is to create a Dapper account on NBA Top Shot and fund your wallet. You can top up your Dapper account balance using a credit card or cryptocurrency. Currently, only five cryptocurrencies are supported—Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and USD Coin.

You can purchase directly or buy packs through NBA Top Shot. Such purchases are referred to as drops (primary market sales), and you will not know which Moment you will get in each pack. Drops occur at pre-selected times, and you must be lucky to get one, as they sell out quickly.

If you miss the opportunity to participate in a drop, you can buy Moments from other users on NBA Top Shot (secondary market sales). The prices of Moments range from $4 to $200,000, depending on the rarity and level of the Moment.

Please note that not all packs are suitable for everyone. While some packs are specifically designed for first-time collectors, packs with higher rarity Moments may require collectors to achieve specific collector scores before purchasing. Collector scores are calculated based on the rarity and level of the Moments you have collected.

For more information on past trades and historical prices, collectors can visit their Moments (https://otmnft.com/) or the evaluation market (https://evaluate.market/). Here, you can discover the most liquid Moments. You can even assess the value of your collection using your username.

Another interesting aspect of NBA Top Shot is the inclusion of challenge events, which require collectors to acquire and hold specific Moments to earn an exclusive Moment as a reward. Rewards can only be obtained through these challenges and can never be obtained through drops. To complete a challenge and earn a reward, users must hold the required Moments until the event concludes.

NBA Top Shot is not just a collectible; it is a gathering place for NBA fans to celebrate the best dunks and three-pointers by collecting these special Moments. The NBA's involvement in NFTs allows them to connect with their sports fanbase in a new, digitally relevant, and innovative way.

Sorare

If basketball isn't your thing, perhaps soccer will pique your interest. Similar to Top Shot, you can purchase NFTs in the form of player cards. You can then use these player cards to form your fantasy soccer team, with the performance of your chosen players in the real world determining your team's score.

This is similar to traditional fantasy soccer, where as a manager, you can select your team for the week, and points are calculated based on their performance. In Sorare, you can only choose five players and appoint a captain. However, the main difference here is that rarity matters.

In the 2020-2021 season, rare items were divided into three tiers. Each tier has a limited number of copies: in the game, the rare tier has 100 copies, the super rare tier has 10 copies, and the unique tier has only one copy. Naturally, these unique cards are worth a lot of money, especially if they feature world-class talents like Kylian Mbappé or Cristiano Ronaldo. In March 2021, a unique version of Cristiano Ronaldo's player card sold for an incredible $290,000.

If you are looking to add new players, you can search the market to purchase the strongest players and your favorites. You can fund your Sorare wallet using a credit card, bank transfer, or by transferring funds from an external crypto wallet. Credit card transactions are priced in euros, so make sure you have the appropriate funds.

You can purchase existing player cards from other managers on the market or buy new player cards by participating in market auctions. If you are outbid by other users, you will be refunded immediately.

Player scores reflect how your players perform on the field, while card scores come from the player, plus additional bonuses based on the unique characteristics of the card itself. For example, suppose you have a rare card, and the player scores 80 points with a 10% bonus. Therefore, the card score for the week would be 88% (80x1.1).

While higher rarity elements essentially start with higher rewards, experience points can help elevate your players to the next level. By playing a card each week, it will earn experience points, gradually increasing the card's level and earning an additional 0.5% bonus. Note that a card can be upgraded up to 20 times, but it takes about three years.

As a fantasy soccer game, leagues are one of the main features of Sorare. Leagues are divided into four different divisions, each with its own card requirements to ensure a more competitive environment. For example, Division 4 requires at least four rare player cards, while Division 1 requires at least three unique player cards to participate. By entering weekly leagues, you have the chance to win more cards, and even Ethereum!

Sorare combines the traditional fantasy soccer experience with digital collectibles, appealing to both cryptocurrency enthusiasts and soccer fans. While it may seem like a play-to-earn experience, all the rarest cards come with the strongest rewards, and you can always use the free cards provided to build your team and upgrade from there.

Chiliz

While fans are an essential part of any sports team, they rarely participate in decision-making that drives team growth and future development. Chiliz aims to change this by offering fan tokens on their platform, allowing die-hard fans to vote on fan-driven decisions, connect with like-minded supporters, and have the opportunity to participate in exclusive events that reward fans with NFTs.

By collaborating with major soccer clubs like Juventus and esports organizations like Natus Vincere, Chiliz has been able to provide fan tokens for their respective teams through its Chiliz exchange. Their native Chiliz token, CHZ, is used as the currency for their exchange and fan reward application, Socios. Since all fan tokens are paired with CHZ on the Chiliz exchange, you need to acquire some CHZ before you can start influencing decisions and showing support for your favorite team. Alternatively, you can also obtain fan tokens from other exchanges using regular cryptocurrencies.

As mentioned earlier, these fan tokens can be used to influence choices made by the team, such as selecting a captain's armband or even designing a new team bus! The best part is that you only need one token to gain voting rights, but having more tokens gives you more power to influence outcomes.

The Socios app provides a unified experience for sports fans. You can place match predictions and compete with others to win prizes, such as signed jerseys or even VIP match day experiences. Additionally, similar to the concept of Pokémon Go, you can earn free fan tokens by participating in daily token hunting activities. Socios also has its own "fan token" called SSU, which can be used to vote on changes and other features within the app.

In addition to fan tokens, Chiliz has laid out significant plans to incorporate NFTs into its fan engagement platform. By integrating Chainlink, partner clubs can create NFTs in real-time, whether for live sports events or commemorating specific moments in club history.

Moreover, Socios users may have the opportunity to earn NFTs as rewards for accurately predicting match outcomes. These NFTs will initially be based on Ethereum but will eventually be supported on other blockchains in the future.

Project Examples

Revv Motorsport

Revv Motorsport is an Ethereum-based blockchain gaming platform that supports the highly popular F1 Delta Time game. Players can collect virtual cars, drivers, and even circuits in the form of NFTs. Additional car components can also be purchased to enhance performance in racing games.

Zed Run

Users can participate in digital horse racing, choose their teams, and win attractive prize pools after winning races. Each racehorse NFT comes from different bloodlines and has unique characteristics. Users can breed horses from different families to cultivate an excellent horse.

Lympo

As a sports NFT ecosystem, Lympo offers a variety of collectible cards featuring outstanding athletes from various sports, including mixed martial arts, tennis, and figure skating. NFTs can be earned by registering for the platform's Lympo market tokens, which can then be redeemed for NFTs. These NFTs come with varying degrees of rarity and require different credits to mint them.

Conclusion

Sports NFTs cater to sports enthusiasts among existing crypto users and attract sports fans into the crypto space. As the gamification of using NFTs becomes a new medium for fan engagement, sports teams and clubs also benefit. By simplifying applications and involving sports fans from around the world, sports NFTs are an excellent way for official clubs to generate additional revenue.

As for fan tokens, while they are not NFTs, they play a crucial role in bridging the gap between sports and cryptocurrency. Just as users showcase these NFTs as part of their identity, fans can flaunt their level of support through fan tokens. They are not in opposition to sports NFTs; rather, they exist in a synergistic relationship. Their primary goal is clear—to provide fans with a better experience and attract more attention to the digital collectibles space.