PREMIER LEAGUE SET TO ANNOUNCE NFT DEAL WORTH UP TO $590 MILLION
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrency are all the rage these days and it seems like all the major sports leagues in the world are getting in on the action. The English Premier League is the latest sports league to dip its toes into the NFT game after the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the Bundesliga, and La Liga. These sports properties have all signed multimillion-dollar NFT deals with Dapper Labs, Candy Digital, and Sorare in the past 13 months.
The Daily Mail reported last week that the Premier League is mulling over bids of between $298 million (£220m) and $598 million (434m) over the next 4 years. The Premier League is reported to be considering a move into NFTs in late November; minutes from a meeting between the league and fan representatives revealed that the league was “seriously thinking about partnering with a cryptocurrency platform”. Sources close to the league revealed that if a deal was feasible, the league would then approach such a deal in a “slow and cautious” manner.
The Premier League has delayed putting out a tender which has allowed the market to grow and eventually improve offers to the league by blockchain companies. Premier League clubs stand to have an advantage over the NBA, NFL, and MLB in the amount offered due to the mammoth size of the clubs’ global fan bases with a club like Manchester United being one of the most recognizable names in sports worldwide.
Sports related NFTs are projected to generate more than $2 billion in transactions this year according to Deloitte, which makes the new digital world an interesting prospect for the generally traditional Premier League clubs and their hierarchies. It seems like it just won’t be Reece James, John Terry, and Trent Alexander-Arnold owning NFTs. Everyone can, or at least will, once the Premier League releases the first mints with one of either Dapper Labs, Candy Digital, Sorare, or ConsenSys. According to the Daily Mail, the Premier League has shortlisted the above four blockchain firms with the winning bidder set to be presented to the clubs before the month’s end, and will gain an official license to produce a range of blockchain-based products.
Dapper Labs are the company behind the popular NBA Topshot platform and signed deals with the NBA and NFL last year, each worth a reported $20.3 million. They also have a deal with the UFC, signed in February last year and have launched an NFT marketplace with the league last month. Dapper Labs also announced a deal with the Spanish league, La Liga, in September 2021. The Vancouver-based company has plans to expand to “basically all major sports,” said CEO and co-founder Roham Gharegozlou in September. “La Liga is the first big league announcement that we’re making, but there will be more coming in the next few months as well.” Dapper Labs project with La Liga functionally focuses on video NFTs which is different from the fantasy sports angle taken by Sorare who also have an NFT deal with La Liga. La Liga will become available on Dapper’s Flow blockchain in June.
Candy Digital is a digital collectibles company owned by Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, and investors Mike Novogratz and Gary Vaynerchuk. The company runs on the Palm blockchain and signed a deal with Major League Baseball in early June last year, making them the league’s official partner for NFTs and collectibles.
Sorare, on the other hand, is a French-based company and boasts Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann and Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand as investors, 23-grand slam title-winner Serena Williams as a board advisor, and Barcelona center back Gerard Pique as a strategic advisor.
The company is owned largely in part by Softbank with the Japan-based company raising $680 million in Sorare’s Series B last year. A popular fantasy football platform, Sorare uses Ethereum-based blockchain technology to provide a platform where players can buy, sell, trade, and manage virtual teams with digital player cards. Sorare signed a two-year deal with Bundesliga in November last year and will sell digital cards from both the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. In addition to the Bundesliga, Sorare also has a deal with La Liga in a partnership that covers both LaLiga Santander and LaLiga Smartbank. European clubs including Liverpool FC, Paris St Germain, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Real Madrid, and West Ham United have also previously launched digital cards on Sorare.
The platform is likely preferable to the Premier League fans in the UK and Europe than the other available options and would seem to be in a leading position considering its previous deals and experience in European football. However, it remains a controversial choice as the company has been under investigation by the UK Gambling Commission since October of last year for operating in the UK without a license.
ConsenSys, the final company on the Premier League shortlist, is a blockchain software company that is owned by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin and has headquarters in New York City. Not very well-known outside the blockchain industry, ConsenSys co-founded NFT platform, Palm which provides the technology that Candy Digital uses in its NFT offerings.
A few Premier League clubs have already delved into partnerships with crypto companies, something that the Premier League has previously promised to look into. Some of the clubs include Watford who have a partnership with official shirt sponsor and crypto betting firm Stake.com, a relationship that includes adorning the dogecoin logo on the players’ shirt sleeves. Southampton have two partnerships with blockchain companies; one with current sponsor and Watford’s former sponsor Sportsbet.io, and another with training uniform sponsor Learn Crypto. CoinJar, a crypto exchange platform also sponsors London-based Brentford.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero