🏀 Metaproof Sports

This is Sophia from 🏀 Metaproof Sports, the weekly newsletter where we keep you informed on how the metaverse and web3 are changing the sports industry. 

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💌 A quick thanks to our friends…

This edition is sponsored by Matchday. Collect, trade and play in. Enjoy games built for football’s 5 billion fans.

Matchday features tens of thousands of well-loved footballers, in partnership with the global player union FIFPRO. Players, who 100% own the player cards they collect, can take their squad in 2023 and compete against others in the casual football game. The Matchday Marketplace is now live to get you started in building your dream squad and dive deep into Matchday games next year. Check them out today! 

📲 By the numbers

A few trivia to know about popular sports NFT collections (Source):

• The NBA Top Shot Collection, which debuted in July 2019 as a digital recreation of traditional trading cards, now has highly coveted moment cards with an average sales price of $68,000. 

• Even after the conclusion of MLB Champions in 2018, its NFTs continue to be traded on secondary markets. The miniature bobblehead avatars come in various poses and have a floor price of 0.00405 ETH. 

• Cristiano Ronaldo’s supporters can collect 1,562,199 NFTs altogether.

• A Pat Mahomes’ NFT sold for $30,000 as one of the highest sales ever.

📫 News & trends

🎾 DraftKings tees up PGA Tour NFT fantasy golf game

Sports betting company DraftKings has unveiled plans to introduce a new NFT fantasy golf game, in partnership with the PGA Tour, after creating NFT-based fantasy sports games around the NFL and UFC. The upcoming game Reignmakers PGA Tour, slated for a March launch, will follow the same format as the previous NFT projects of DraftKings, which will include the creation and sale of digital cards representing PGA Tour golfers with the help of Polygon. 

The PGA Tour had previously announced a collaboration with Autograph, Tom Brady's NFT startup, in September, which has yet to produce any tangible outcomes. Autograph's NFTs are anticipated to be digital collectibles linked to on-the-course moments, while DraftKings is centered on player cards that can be used in-game. 

The PGA Tour foresees NFT projects' ability to increase fans' attachment to players through ownership of their respective assets, referring to players like Jon Rahm and Max Homa, who competed in the Genesis Invitational last weekend.

👟 Adidas to ‘scope out’ token-gated sneaker drops, says web3 lead

Adidas is reportedly exploring the possibility of incorporating cryptocurrency into its business model, potentially by utilizing token-gated tactics to offer exclusive drops for specific communities and currencies, and ushering in a new level of engagement and inclusivity for fans and customers.

The well-known sportswear brand has been making headlines with its calculated move into the world of web3 and NFTs, which can be traced as far back as December 2021 when it first purchased a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT, issued its own 30,000 NFT drop the same month, and raked in $23.4M in a single afternoon from the debut Into the Metaverse drop.

Salesforce web3 studio co-founder Marc Mathieu stated that connecting crypto wallets to brands will become the "new cookie," hinting at brands soon integrating cryptocurrency and blockchain into their marketing strategies, allowing them to offer unique and exclusive experiences to their customers.

💯 The future of sports betting is here, and it’s decentralized

Betting has been around for centuries but has seen such astounding transformation with the evolution of technology. Online betting has become hugely popular in recent years, with more and more people participating in sports trading exchanges. Now, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are taking the industry to the next level, allowing users to interact with sports exchanges in a more secure, transparent manner. The increased transparency reinforces trust: By verifying the system's fairness, users can be confident about not being cheated and feel more comfortable placing larger bets, in turn enhancing user engagement.

🤔 Could we see live sports take over the “geospatial web?”

Fabric's founder Saul Garlick has spent the last five years developing what he believes is the pioneer in the "beginning of the geospatial web" or GSW, a location-dependent real-time layer of immersive, entertaining, and useful technology overlaid upon individual and collective daily realities. It’s accessible to anyone with an internet connection via a web browser or app, synchronizing time, position, and functionality to create a whole new layer on Earth.

Launched in 2018, Fabric raised $4M in funding, including a $1.9M seed round, and showcased its technology at the NBA Summer League and exhibition games between the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks in Abu Dhabi. Its technology encourages users to look up from their phones and engage in real-time, location-specific experiences called "Fabs" that can be viewed through a user's phone, offering interactive activities that elevate the fan experience.

⚡ Japanese sports giant Mizuno takes NFT plunge with judo, running, soccer offerings

The Japanese sports brand Mizuno has taken a big leap into the field by launching its first NFT. Specializing in three different sports - namely baseball, running and golf - Mizuno is offering three different sets of NFTs available for purchase on OpenSea and auctioned through Ethereum. 

Mizuno is a major judo gi manufacturer and has supplied sportswear for teams from Japan, the USA, Brazil, and France. It has commissioned digital artist Ryokke Draw to create artworks featuring Japanese judo champions, such as Naohisa Takafuji, Hifumi Abe, and Naori Hamada.

The Japanese government itself has been encouraging the growth of NFT-related business in the country.

🎮 Gamers will drive web3 adoption: Polygon Labs President Ryan Wyatt

Companies like Ubisoft, Square Enix, and GSC Game World have recently come under fire among video game fans regarding their NFT gaming efforts, pointing to shallow gameplay for early NFT games, crypto industry scams, and falling asset prices. Yet industry experts believe that gamers will remain at the forefront of web3 adoption, with Ethereum sidechain network Polygon Labs president Ryan Wyatt, who has had a stellar career in esports and video games including as head of YouTube Gaming, emphasizing the potential for web3 games to abstract away the complexities of using crypto wallets and handling NFT assets. 

• Wyatt suggests that gamers, who are already familiar with digital currencies and in-game purchases, will be the earliest adopters of web3 games. 

• This sentiment is echoed by others in the industry, who see gaming as the key to web3 adoption via seamless and intuitive experiences.

Play-to-earn games surged in value and attention in 2021, led by Axie Infinity with over $4B worth of NFT trading volume. Such games, though, were criticized as shallow, simplistic, as well as economically flawed - something developers can turn around by crafting compelling web3 experiences ahead.

🔍 Decoding the growth of NFL and the league’s success: From the branding and commercial lens

The National Football League is an undisputed industry leader boasting an impressive net worth of over $100B, and this success is no fluke - it's the result of strategic business practices, savvy branding, lucrative sponsorship deals, and the integration of cutting-edge technology. A quick look at its tech-aided evolution:

• Its strategic partnerships, adaptability, and international games contributed to its success as a global media powerhouse, with Super Bowl LVII watched in over 180 countries and drawing over 96 million viewers in the US alone.

• Its lucrative partnerships with major brands like Nike, PepsiCo, Microsoft, and broadcasters Amazon, Disney, and ESPN, as well as its sponsors and partners in technology, audio, and wireless services, played a major role in its commercial success as a global sports leader.

• Its embrace of new technologies such as data analytics and virtual reality is transforming the way football is played and enjoyed, improving the fan experience, player safety, and game performance, and keeping the league at the cutting edge of sports tech.

🏃‍♂️Quick hits 

• Streaming platform and media company OneFootball is set to shrink its headcount from 470 to 320 as it dramatically reduces its cost base in the wake of recent moves in NFT and the wider web3 space.

• Battle Infinity is a much-anticipated play-to-earn NFT game in 2023, offering a virtual metaverse that includes a fantasy sports platform, NFT marketplace, betting platform, the IBAT Premier League, P2E games, and a decentralized exchange.

• In the continuing saga of lawsuits against sports and entertainment celebrities involved in NFTs, a new suit alleges tennis superstar Serena Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian fraudulently promoted Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs without revealing their involvement in the assets of the company.

• Sports streaming platform myco will stream the Pakistan Super League (HBL PSL Season 8) on its web3 streaming platform in the MENA region for free.

• AI-powered creator platform Triller has launched the immersive, 3D environment Hoopz within its Metaverz to transform the sports viewing experience following NBA All-Star Weekend.

💸 Finance buzz

• Healthcare company AllStar Health Brands seeks to penetrate the $30B youth sports industry as it negotiates to bring a professional Italian Soccer Club to North America as its regional partner. (Source)

• In late November 2022, Sony acquired real-time 3D animation firm Beyond Sports for roughly $70M to expand its portfolio of metaverse sports solutions. (Source)

• Former Apple executive Trip Hawkins, who founded the company behind the sports video game franchise FIFA, will join web3 startup Games for a Living (GFAL) as its co-founder and strategy chief as it looks to take on top blockchain games like Axie Infinity.

🗣️ Quote of the week

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All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse.

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