When we talk about innovation and disruption in sports, it could also be in terms of sports leagues and sports models that are actually created. One of the interesting concepts is the Fan Controlled Football League. Now, this is a very different concept that looks nothing like the legacy leagues that we’ve had for decades.
This is a situation where the fans themselves not only watch the games but actually call the plays. You may ask, “How does that work?” Instead of fans spending their money on tickets to watch or attend games, they actually can get the feed of the game over the internet, directly to their iPad or their smartphone. What they pay for are tokens, which allows them to vote on a menu of plays that are going to be called.
Think of this as an arena football game, but the difference is when your team has “first and 10” at the 40-yard line, the coach puts up four plays where you then have 30 seconds to vote on your smartphone for which you’d prefer. Based on the number of tokens you’ve bought, that gives you a total vote. That vote total gets blended in with everyone else’s to pick from three or four plays that the coach puts out there.
Embracing Fan Participation Through Local and Global Sports
It’s a different way to think about sports but think of the aspect of the fans wanting more than just a passive experience of watching. We want to participate as fans. It doesn’t mean getting on the field with your shoulder pads, but it does mean being a part of the leadership of the team and actually having an impact on plays that are being called.
Think about the ability to do this all over the world. You could be in Thailand and call plays for your team back in the United States, who is actually operating in this league. It’s a whole new experience.
What enables it is something called the blockchain. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about it as it is much talked about. It allows the capture of data, as well as presents transparency and verification to ensure each person is voting solely with the amount of tokens that they have. The blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that is impacting so many things in our world, including everything from financial flows of currency to cryptocurrency. It also has a role in the sports business.
Ways to Incorporate Blockchain Into Sports Management
Sports collectibles is one promising area where blockchain can have an impact. The Los Angeles Dodgers hosted a digital Bobblehead Night supported by blockchain, where fans were able to download a limited-edition digital bobblehead. They can trade or sell them as digital assets to other fans. This could become a valuable commodity at some point.
Also, the Major League Baseball Players Association has introduced digital baseball cards that can be traded. Each MLB player will have a list of fans who owns his digital card.
Blockchain is similarly playing a role in the fantasy sports area. Some fantasy leagues are awarding cryptocurrency as prizes for winning or scoring points in the fantasy league. From a fan engagement standpoint, there are four billion soccer fans worldwide. The London Football Exchange is developing a new form of fan engagement, where tokens can get them special access to tours, receptions, discounts on merchandise, and more.
Also, many European soccer teams have partnered with cryptocurrencies in order to forge a deeper bond with fans. Fans can purchase a branded club token to join a club of like-minded fans around the globe.
Another really fascinating application is that blockchain can power a mobile voting platform for fans to offer input into certain decisions. And even in the area of club ownership, teams are exploring ways to give fans ownership in their club, utilizing blockchain as this immutable, fraud-proof method of recording and transacting changes in ownership.
An additional area is managing the player transfer market for global soccer. Blockchain can be useful in tracking and recording transfer fees for players, making it far more efficient. It could also provide a level of transparency by showing who receives the various transfer fees and what percent goes to the agent, as well as the percentage that goes to different people in the whole value chain.
Another fascinating area for blockchain is ticketing transactions. Tickets for a Super Cup match between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid were distributed to mobile phones via blockchain technology. Fans could be assured that the tickets were legitimate since blockchain is a trusted, verified source.
And yet another area where blockchain comes into play is that many athletes are jumping on the blockchain bandwagon and endorsing it. Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki is an ambassador to Lympo, a blockchain-based app that gives users rewards for achieving their fitness goals and sharing their fitness data. And in the eSports realm, blockchain is already widespread with platforms like Play to Live, which allow gamers to stream their play to fans globally and get paid for the entertainment that they provide by playing their video games.
In the sports betting area, blockchain could play a major role. The overall transaction cost of betting automatically drops because blockchain provides the functions that banks or other financial intermediaries would play. So, blockchain can lead to instant cash settlement on bets.
Blockchain Offers Opportunities For Beginners and Professionals
There are no currency conversion fees, and there’s a reduction in fraud. Because of blockchain’s transparency, it’s nearly impossible to manipulate the system.
There’s another area that’s really intriguing – thinking of athletes as investments. There’s even a way for athletes to raise capital by issuing tokens in an ICO or initial coin offering. It’s the blockchain version of an IPO that we think of in the stock market. Even amateur athletes who are disadvantaged economically, who believe in their talent level, can sell off a small portion of their future earnings in exchange for cash today. Perhaps that cash will be used to help improve their skills and enhance their future income opportunities in their sport.
Expanding Knowledge in Online Sports Management Education
The opportunities are really boundless in the role that blockchain can play in sports. There’s no question that technology is having a profound impact on sports today. It has so many ways in which it can change the game. The areas of impact range from wearable technology that will give us better data on athletic performance to neuroscience that will help us monitor the brain waves of athletes to help optimize their performance. And the 5G network that is emerging and expanding around the globe will allow a much faster transfer of massive amounts of information and data.
There are so many different ways in which technology can impact sports. Blockchain has so many different applications. It can help fans be more deeply engaged in their sports teams. It has an impact on how athletes can do initial coin offerings to raise capital for themselves as individual investments. And it could even play a role in fantasy sports.
One of the things we’re seeing is a lot of sports organizations investing in technology through accelerators or incubators in partnership with venture capitalists to really accelerate the development of technology and integrate it into sports.
