Introduction
A lot of industries are already enjoying the value of blockchain adoption. Sectors like finance, health, insurance, education and many others already have blockchain-based services that have improved how things are done. One industry that has potential to benefit from blockchain projects is sports. In this article, we want to look at that.
The sporting industry has many ways they could implement blockchain tools and achieve a higher level of performance and results. Since blockchain technology has a lot of roles to play in sports, consider one application of blockchain in sports that is already bringing a lot of value - fan tokens.
Understanding fan tokens
Everyone sports team have their supporters usually referred to as fans. They plan a big role in the success of the sporting team and business. Fans support their teams during games, buy game tickets and sports gear, and contribute in other ways. With the emergence of blockchains, fan tokens was introduced.
Fan tokens are cryptocurrencies owned by a sporting team and rewarded to fans for supporting the team in various ways. These digital assets earned for being and active supporter of a team could be used to exchange exclusive benefits to owners of the token. Fan tokens are becoming increasingly popular as they serve as another important avenue for fans to play a more valuable, active role in the team's activities - more importantly in decision making. Lets look at the role of fan tokens.
Fan tokens - why so important?
Fant tokens play a very crucial role in sports development. Consider some of the various ways fan tokens are being used today.
1. Exclusive services/privileges: One important role that fan tokens play is giving holders some special access to events that is not available to the public. A sports team has so many events which is not just about the games. For example, if a sport team holds a charitable event or program, not everyone may have access to attend. Token holders can have this as an exclusive benefit of having the token.
There are many other activities that are open to fan token owners like attending team training, voting for or against a management proposal for the team, exclusive access to some VIP areas during team games and other things. These exclusive treatment brings so much value to the fan tokens.
2. Exchange medium: Fan tokens are actually real cryptocurrencies that could be traded for other cryptocurrencies in the market. This use can turn fans to investors or even attract external investors to the team as they buy and trade fan tokens.
Within the sports team ecosystem, fan tokens could still be accepted as a means of payment. Fans could be allowed to use the tokens to purchase team gear like mufflers, T-shirts and other materials sold by the team. Fan tokens could still be used to purchase game tickets. Fans could still use the token as money and perform P2P transactions recognizing and accepting the tokens as real money.
3. Rewards: Fan token could be earned for following the team and supporting them in any ways. For example, many fan tokens could be earned by attending games for a certain period of time. Tokens are also earned purchasing game tickets and participating in other activities organized by the team
Loyalty rewards is a very important way to use fan tokens. This has the potential to increase fan activity and boost the teams growth. Fans would like to do more to support their teams consistently if they are aware that they can earn fan tokens for doing so.
4. Gaming: Many sports teams also have electronic games which fans are encouraged to play. The fan tokens could be used to incentivize fans that play the games. Each level they attain could be rewarded with some amount of the fan tokens. Using it this way will provide more utility for the fan tokens. The supporters or fans too would have more reasons to more actively support the team.
The above are some ways fan tokens can and are being used to bring more value both to sport team business and to fans.
Accessing fan tokens - Socios and Binance
Many fan tokens are cryptocurrencies in the market. Crypto traders or enthusiasts could simply buy and trade them in exchanges where they are listed. But, there are major platforms where fan tokens are not just sold, but managed. Such platforms allow fans to engage in activities to earn the tokens. Con sider the following two:
Socios.com
Socios.com is perhaps the largest platform where majority of sports teams fan tokens are listed. The teams partnered with this platform to help them manage their fan tokens. There are more than 100 sports teams currently partnering the platform.
Fans have so many activities they could do on socios.com to support their teams and earn the tokens. It includes playing games, taking part in polls, and many other activities. Many sports teams are featured on socios,com including football, hockey, horse racing, national sports teams, basketball etc. Whatever type of sport you support, you could check them out on socios.com
You can find more information about socios.com by following their official handles below. You could also download their mobile app.
Interestingly, socios is owned by a sports blockchain called Chiliz. They have the token traded in most popular exchanges around the world including Binance. Chiliz (CHZ) is an ERC-20 token and the native token used on Socios.com
Binance fan token platform
Binance is has a dedicated fan token platform similar to socios but not as large. Currently, there are just 4 sports teams listed on Binance. That is a very small number compared with the +100 on socios. The 4 teams are FC Porto, Santo FC, SS Lazio and BWT Alpine.
When you visit each fan token page, you can see the activities avialable to fans such as participating in polls, choosing best performer of the team, etc. You can access the Binance fan token page below:
Top 5 fan tokens by market cap
You can see the top 5 fan tokens sorted by market capitalization.
- FC Barcelona Fan Token - $24,593,212
- Alpine F1 Team Fan Token - $7,325,122 (3,922,467 ALPINE)
- OG Fan Token - $13,205,870 (2,766,209 OG)
- Manchester City Fan Token - $1,620,785 (550,152 CITY)
- S.S. Lazio Fan Token - $2,295,046 (1,243,749 LAZIO)
Note: The above market cap data was gotten from CoinMarketCap. To see all the Fan tokens and their market cap, click here.
Conclusion
Fan tokens provide a very important value from blockchain to the sports industry. If you are a sports fan, maybe you could consider joining any of the platforms above after you have Done your Own Research.