French startup Sorare has partnered with the Premier League to launch NFT-based digital player cards on the Ethereum blockchain for its fantasy sports platform. The 4-year licensing deal is a major milestone for Sorare, which has already raised $680 million in a Series B and partnered with football organizations like LaLiga, Bundesliga, and Serie A.
Sorare’s platform operates on the ERC-721 token standard and allows fans to buy, sell, and earn points based on the performance of their chosen lineup of five players. The Premier League cards will be available for purchase on Sorare before being tradeable on marketplaces like OpenSea. The partnership will feature all 20 teams and host league-specific competitions.
Welcome to the House of Sorare. 🦁
Your @premierleague legacy starts now. #BuildYourLegacy: https://t.co/q4bDnlT2qq pic.twitter.com/c2m0j0gqwz
— Sorare (@Sorare) January 30, 2023
The connection between football and cryptocurrency has been established for some time with fan-tokens and NFTs are preserving iconic moments in the sport and providing collectors with benefits such as voting in club decisions, rewards, merchandise designs, and unique experiences.
Sports Industry and Fans continue to embrace NFTs
NFTs have had a significant impact in art and gaming and are being utilized to create new opportunities for fan engagement, income, and creativity in sports. The NBA, NFL, and NHL are among the popular leagues adopting NFTs, which offer unique traits such as authenticity, limited supply, and transparency, providing a digital version of the traditional trading card and sports memorabilia.
The Argentine Football Association (AFA)and leading metaverse platform Uplandme recently announced an official license agreement to bring the First Division Argentina to the Upland metaverse. This partnership will allow AFA to engage Argentinian fans with the metaverse, connecting users with their teams and favorite players.
Not only does Upland connect fans, collectors and players from around the world in a single virtual network, but the open metaverse platform also has various gamified opportunities for users to interact with a complete set of iconic Argentine football digital collectibles including teams, Clubs, Players, Tickets, Gameplay Footage, Historical Moments, Platform Exclusive Moments, and the Official Upland Market.
As long as blockchain technology provides new opportunities for fan engagement and building increased loyalty into existing sporting communities, teams and leagues will invest in strategies to explore this tech.
