If you’ve been watching the World Series this year, I’m sure you’ve taken note of the many crypto.com ads. And if you haven’t, maybe you’re just not a fan of David Ortiz… or Matt Damon. After all… “Fortune favors the brave…” That’s fitting. Crypto ads have been unavoidable during the World Series, which seems to be a major power move by Fox seeing how ESPN won’t allow crypto ads on their platform yet.
Have you noticed that all umpires have the FTX.US logo on their uniforms during games? Makes me wonder… what makes it worth the MLB becoming the first North American pro sports league to partner with a crypto exchange? It’s no surprise that the World Series’ audience is keen on betting, but there’s a whole new world be awaiting with the adoption of blockchain technology in sports, especially in Major League Baseball. Here’s what I learned diving into the MLB’s partnership with FTX.
Baseball fans love crypto
It’s known that baseball fans are interested in the new technology. It’s also not a secret that baseball fans are some of the biggest feens for sports memorabilia. MLB chief revenue officer Noah Garden knows it: “Our fans have been early adopters in using new technologies to engage with our game.” Besides being able to sell a luxury box for one Bitcoin like the Oakland A’s, the receptivity of this new technology by Major League Baseball fans opens doors to new revenue streams for MLB teams through NFTs and fan tokens among other things.
MLB NFTs
The market for NFTs is exploding right if you haven’t heard. NFT Marketplace OpenSea.io recorded $3.4 billion transaction volume on Ethereum in August. Baseball NFTs are part of this ecosystem, but the MLB has their own plans for selling content in non-fungible form.
I read that FTX will have group player rights through the deal, which allows the organization to use highlights of players in content creation. That could be just for their marketing purposes, but I also found out about MLB’s new partnership with Candy Digital through an email from MLB.com the other day. It took me to their new World Series Play of The Day NFTs, and I have to admit they were pretty cool. Plus, their Discord was BLOWING UP. So many people are excited NFTs in baseball and what’s to come.
“As a lifetime collector myself, I couldn’t be more excited for what this partnership means for both creators and consumers, especially the uber-passionate MLB community who craves collectibles and celebrating the iconic moments that makes this game so special.” — Gary Vaynerchuk, investor in Candy Digital
What’s interesting is that Candy Digital is owned by Fanatics, the company that took the place of Topps in a recent deal with Major League Baseball. Topps continues to invest in blockchain technology while they have the license with the MLB. They dropped a World Series NFT Collection as well. Maybe we’ll see an acquisition of Topps by Fanatics?
Fan tokens could be a thing soon
If you’re unfamiliar with blockchain technology, it’d be helpful to learn about tokenomics. Essentially, creating fan tokens will open up more revenue streams for MLB teams and create new opportunities for improving the fan experience. Instead of the Oakland A’s selling a luxury box for bitcoin, the box could go for a certain number of fan tokens. Teams can tie more fan experiences like this to their team’s “currency,” although this currency wouldn’t most likely be valuable outside of the club’s ecosystem.
What does this look like? Obviously teams would have to invest a lot of time and energy into building their tokenized fan economy, but once it’s up and running, they’ll make it exciting to interact the digital side of their club. Token scarcity drives the team’s community, and the fan experience gets more exciting. It becomes ‘gamified’ if you will.
Here’s an example: you own X amount of the Astro’s token (call it AstroCoin), which was given to you because you purchased season tickets this year. You receive an email the day before the Friday night game you’re planning to go to that says there is an exciting opportunity for fan’s in attendance to tomorrow night’s game with X amount of AstroCoin. You get to the game and receive a notification: You’re invited to vote on who hits the longest home run tonight because you have X AstroCoin. Cast your vote to win the home run bat. So you log into your app and cast your vote: Jose Altuve will hit a 417 foot home run. Whoever picks the right player and is closest in guessing the home run’s distance wins the bat.
Boom. No skin off your back, it makes the game that much more interesting, and you might walk home with a bat used by the Gimli of baseball.
New Technology
New blockchain technologies are emerging everyday. Most people in the crypto space understand that it’s very difficult to build complex, decentralized apps on the existing technology, so the MLB and its developers will be looking at new technology that helps bridge the gaps.
Topps used Avalanche to build their World Series NFTs. Candy Digital is building on the Ethereum blockchain but is likely using new technology to implement their marketplace. Who knows… but options are emerging. Polkadot’s launch of parachains allows developers to create their own blockchain (known as a “parachain”) and opens the door for cross-chain communication. This means developers can communicate with other blockchains by using Polkadot, giving them more autonomy to design their blockchains individually. Cardano is also making strides to develop a more scalable blockchain but still focuses on the use of smart contracts unlike Polkadot.
Who knows what’s to come for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in baseball and other sports. MLB’s partnership with FTX marks an important milestone. Think of a World Series with a Braves coin and an Astros coin. What becomes available to the fans? Or think of next season, with a Yankees token, Cubs token, etc. What does the MLB experience look like in 5 years?
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