The Olympics Are Here! What Kind of Sparks Are Generated When Sports Meets Blockchain

On the evening of July 23, the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics, delayed for one year, was held in Tokyo, Japan. White and indigo blue fireworks announced the official beginning of this international sporting event. As a top-tier event held every four years, it naturally attracted global attention and sparked a wave of "sports fever."

For those in the crypto world, sports meeting blockchain is not something new. The immutable and traceable characteristics of blockchain can ensure the authenticity and authority of sports collectibles and facilitate the verification of sports data rights. It can also strengthen the cohesion and influence between sports stars and fans through the issuance of fan tokens. Of course, there are also sports NFTs that have been particularly hot in the past two years, such as NBA Top Shot and Sorare, which are all manifestations of the combination of blockchain and sports. Some forward-thinking sports stars have even requested platforms to use crypto assets like Bitcoin to pay their salaries, and many teams have also received sponsorship and support from blockchain-related companies.

Today, let's take a look at the Olympics and see what magical sparks are generated when sports meets blockchain?

Blockchain Increasingly Penetrates the Sports World

On the evening of July 25, it was reported that the British team will become the first team to launch NFTs at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. According to reports, Team GB will partner with NFT commerce provider Tokns to launch an NFT shop that will showcase legendary moments, videos, photos and other works from the British team at the Tokyo Olympics, supporting fans to purchase at fixed prices using crypto assets or fiat currency. Legendary gymnast Max Whitlock from the British team announced that his personal NFT works launched are also part of the British team's NFT shop. It is reported that the partnership between the British team and Tokns will start from the Summer Olympics and continue until 2022.

Although the British team is the first team to launch NFTs at the Tokyo Olympics, they are not the first to pioneer this in Olympic history. More than a month ago, on June 3, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a partnership with Animoca Brands' subsidiary n Way to jointly launch new Olympic-themed digital entertainment products, including NFT Olympic badges, giving collectors a chance to realize their dreams.

According to the official press release, this NFT version of Olympic badges is the digital version of Olympic badges, collectible and tradable, and was issued and sold on the n Way official website on June 17. Timo Lumme, Managing Director of the IOC Television and Marketing Services Department, stated, "Olympic badges were originally used to identify athletes, referees and officials, but in the past 125 years, they have become a tradition of the Olympics. From athletes to event staff, journalists and spectators, everyone collects and exchanges badges inside and outside the Olympic Village. Today's release is a natural evolution of this tradition, consistent with the 'Olympic 2020+5 Agenda' and the IOC's digital strategy, which uses new digital technologies to promote Olympic values and establish direct connections with sports fans. Now they can enjoy the passion of the Olympics in a brand new way and own a piece of Olympic history."

In addition to the Olympics colliding with blockchain, the recently concluded European Championship also featured blockchain elements. It is reported that this year UEFA signed a 5-year cooperation agreement with Ant Chain, and both parties will jointly explore the application of blockchain and other technologies to accelerate the digital transformation of the football industry and provide better and richer viewing experiences for global fans. In addition, this European Championship will present the first blockchain trophy, divided into gold, silver and bronze trophies, to reward the top three players with goals in the tournament. The achievements and honors of the winning players in this tournament will be uploaded to Ant Chain for permanent preservation, and their goal moments will also be generated through Ant Chain technology as the first digital collectible in European Championship history, permanently collected by UEFA.

On July 12, with Italy winning the championship, the 2020 European Championship officially concluded, and Cristiano Ronaldo, with 5 personal goals and 1 assist, became the top scorer and successfully won the aforementioned first blockchain golden trophy for top scorer in the European Championship. Besides Ronaldo, Schick from the Czech team and Benzema from the French team won the silver and bronze trophies respectively.

In addition, Alipay distributed the same digital trophy for the top scorer to 1,600 verified users that day to reward these users for winning in the European Championship prediction activities. The digital trophy is a digital collectible representing a single replica of the physical trophy, symbolizing UEFA and Alipay's hope to support more people—regardless of status—to enjoy the happiness of football and become top scorers.

Actually, in the football sector, some top European football clubs have long been involved. Chiliz is a blockchain-based sports platform aimed at providing blockchain-based solutions for the sports industry to help fans participate in the token economy. Sports teams and other organizations can create their own fan tokens through Chiliz and use fan tokens as a circulating medium within the community. Previously, Barcelona (BAR), Juventus (JUV), Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), AC Milan (ACM) and many other top clubs have all reached partnerships with this platform. Fans holding fan tokens can participate in club-related voting through Chiliz's fan engagement incentive app Socios.com, receive VIP rewards, exclusive club and sponsor discount benefits, participate in augmented reality features, chat rooms, games and competitions, etc.

In addition, basketball, baseball, football and other sports have also boarded the blockchain express train. The four major professional sports leagues in the United States—the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the NHL (National Hockey League)—have all launched relevant partnerships.

The NBA, with the most sensitive business sense and highest degree of commercialization, partnered with renowned blockchain company Dapper Labs to launch the card collection game NBA Top Shot, directly leading the trend of NFTs in the sports world in 2021. Besides official partnerships, various teams and players have also rushed to release their respective NFTs or fan tokens. For example, on July 26, the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers announced a formal partnership with Socios.com. Just a few days ago, the Sacramento Kings launched their first NFT series on Open Sea, Lakers star Andre Drummond released NFT collectibles on Rarible, etc. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is a well-known crypto asset enthusiast. Since 2019, the team accepted Bitcoin payments for purchasing tickets and team merchandise, and starting from March 2021, began accepting Dogecoin payments.

We mentioned in "NFT Heat Declines Entering Correction Phase, May Accumulate Strength for New Round of Explosion" that Topps, as the world's largest MLB player card manufacturer and distributor, also announced on April 12 a partnership with MLB and players to release 2021 Topps Series 1 baseball NFT collectibles on April 20.

Although the NFL, the highest-revenue league globally, has not yet officially launched relevant NFT products, its Chief Media and Business Officer Brian Rolapp once stated that the league is studying blockchain technology for ticketing and collectibles. On July 10, it was reported that crypto asset broker Voyager Digital became the official cryptocurrency partner of the NFL's first player seminar, will speak to 100 NFL players in Las Vegas, providing crypto asset education. In addition, NFL teams and players are actively entering the blockchain field. For example, sports brand Adidas once partnered with the 2021 NFL first draft pick to release NFTs, with total sales exceeding $170,000.

Regarding the NHL, on June 15, the San Jose Sharks within the league became the first team to accept crypto asset payments, and crypto assets can be used for season tickets, luxury suites and sponsorship. Previously, Socios.com reached a marketing partnership with the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League.

Sports Sector Shows Signs of Mild Warming

If not for the pandemic, 2021 should have been a minor sports year, but now, besides the annual NBA and NFL professional leagues, there are also the delayed Tokyo Olympics, European Championship, Copa America and other top events. Such density of sports competitions has not only ignited people's enthusiasm for sports, but conversely, sports concept-related investment targets in the crypto market have also received attention from funds to a certain extent.

In terms of trading volume, according to Nonfungible statistics, during two time periods in mid-to-late May and mid-July, sports concept NFT trading volume both showed two small peaks, with single-day highest trading numbers reaching 2,650 and 2,253 times respectively. These two time points恰好 occurred just before the European Championship and Tokyo Olympics opening, very consistent with the trading strategy we often mention of "buy on expectations, sell on facts."

Looking at the changes in the number of trading active addresses, it also shows a trend similar to trading volume. In the past three months, two small peaks also appeared in the same two time periods in mid-to-late May and mid-July.

If looking at the trading activity in the secondary market, there has been a noticeably warming trend since the end of June. According to Nonfungible statistics, at the end of June, the daily trading frequency in the NFT sports sector was approximately 15,000. After entering July, it rose rapidly and reached 22,500 on July 21. In less than a month, the increase exceeded 33.3%. Considering market internal and external factors comprehensively, this increase was largely stimulated by the European Championship and Tokyo Olympics.

However, due to the recent decline in NBA and football hotspots, NBA Top Shot and Sorare, two previously hot sports NFTs, have both shown varying degrees of decline in trading volume over the past 30 days compared to their hot periods.

The sports industry has very rich subdivisions, such as events, sports equipment, media, construction, etc., so the combination points of blockchain and sports are also very diverse. Compared with previous years, the connection between sports and blockchain is closer. Data rights verification, sports collectibles, fan tokens, etc. are all manifestations of vigorous development in this field. However, due to the cyclical nature of events, the "sports + blockchain" industry also shows very obvious cyclical patterns. Overall, it is still in a very early stage, but with infinite potential. How to make blockchain better applied in sports, so that the combination of the two does not generate too much泡沫, while also developing into a market of considerable scale, may be the direction the market will move towards next.

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