🏀 Metaproof Sports

This is Sophia from 🏀 Metaproof Sports, the weekly newsletter where we update you 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

Sports fandom NFTs were one of the top highlights in the industry in 2022, with the following standout numbers (Source):

• Lionel Messi’s Messiverse, his first-ever licensed, authenticated NFT collection, raked in $3M, followed by a second collection that dropped on November 27. 

• China won a contract for the FIFA World Cup to be streamed in its VR metaverse despite its crypto and NFT ban in 2021 - 6 firms got streaming rights, including TikTok owner ByteDance.

• After Saudi Arabia’s historic win over Argentina, the Saudi Arabia-themed NFT called "The Saudis" increased sales by 387%.

• The sports NFT market doubled from $1.3B to $2.6B in 2022, expected to grow at a CAGR of 36.3% to reach $41.6B by 2032, according to a Market Decipher study.

📫 News & trends

🏎️ Sports crypto sponsorships continue to take a hit as Ferrari F1 drops Velas deal

F1 Team Scuderia Ferrari has prematurely ended a multi-year contract with EVM blockchain platform Velas, which is reportedly in financial distress, on the heels of FTX’s bankruptcy and questions around the future of crypto sponsorships. An unidentified source disclosed to ScuderiaFans.com that Team Ferrari did not heed clauses around Velas’ creation of NFTs, with both reportedly pursuing legal action to end the agreement. 

In 2021, the F1 team signed Velas as a premium partner to deliver digital collectibles and unique experiences to its fans, with the Velas logo appearing on the F1-75 car and the livery of drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz - speculated to be a $30M deal. Ferrari, too, has reportedly dropped data analysis partner Snapdragon, slashing its revenue by another $25M. 

Velas was founded in 2019 by crypto entrepreneur and investor Alex Alexandrov as an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chain claiming to process 75,000 transactions per second. 

🖊️ Upbit signs deal with Serie A Team Napoli to become an official shirt partner

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit has inked a deal with S.S.C. Napoli to become the new back-of-shirt and crypto exchange partner for the premier Italian soccer club. As part of the partnership, the Upbit logo will appear on the back of the Napoli jerseys worn in the Serie A, friendlies, and Coppa Italia competitions, such as during the team’s next Serie A fixture against bitter rivals Inter Milan. Upbit will also be the team’s official global crypto exchange partner in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 soccer seasons. The announcement comes as a surprising return of crypto-sports partnerships, particularly in the wake of partnerships like Tezos and Red Bull Racing coming to a halt. 

💰 FightOut move-to-earn ICO nears $2.5M, signs roster of sports stars, launches $250k crypto giveaway

FightOut, launched in December as the first project to bring move-to-earn (M2E) to the metaverse, has raised $2.45M and a lineup of sports ambassadors. Its $FGHT token offers access to a web3 companion app, which will launch as an invitation only in the first quarter of 2023 and as a full version in the second quarter. The token is now on sale now for $0.0166 (60.06 = 1 USD) but the price doubles to $0.0333 when the $5M raise milestone has been reached. The presale ends on 31st March 2023. FightOut, aiming to incentivize people to stick with their fitness programs, combines real-life workouts and training with avatars in the metaverse, where vital stats are carried over into the VR world. 

🔮 A look into OTT ecosystem in 2023 part 1: From sports streaming to metaverse

Internet penetration, the rise in demand for devices, as well as technological advancements all significantly improve digital viewing experiences and transform online streaming. For industry insiders, traditional sports leagues can no longer match the unprecedented degree of engagement and immersion that the metaverse offers. The FIFA World Cup is a recent example that adopted the metaverse, allowing spectators to just whip out their phones and have AI identify the players and offer statistics. With glasses and other technologies, everything will gradually change; even TV displays will transform into more than simply a watching experience. The key to the metaverse, experts say, is having a physical link that allows for the simulation of experiences.

👨🏻‍💻 The 10 potential AI apps that could revolutionize sports

AI applications are fast penetrating the sports sector, including creating a VR environment for training and fan interaction, autonomous drones for broadcasting, and predictive modeling for ticketing and athlete management. The top 10 AI uses in the sports sector include:

• Replacing coaches - Coaches, trainers, and analysts are using AI to analyze and improve player performance

• Substituting referees - Making judgments and big decisions can now be made more precisely by an “AI referee”

• Improving fan engagement - Infosys and the French Tennis Federation have enhanced fan engagement using AR technology

• Eliminating ticket waits - AI improves customer experience and lets businesses save money via predictive analytics that can identify attendee headcount.

• Recruiting players - AI can be used to scout players and identify those who are most likely to be successful at the professional level

🎰 The first proprietary metaverse casino gaming platform “CloverLand” to be showcase at CES 2023

The Metaverse Cloverland - an interactive, immersive environment with complete interoperable technology that employs cutting-edge extended reality (XR) technology to realistically offer the IRL impression of a real casino - will be formally launched by gaming firm JM2 Clover Gaming. In early January, the Clover Casino, the first building on Cloverland, will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The cutting-edge real-time 3D production tool, Unreal Engine, is integrated into Cloverland to create an “unrivaled” experience in the expanding online gambling industry by providing a first structure. Cloverland is said to be compatible with any devices, thus players may connect with one another regardless of their equipment. 

🔥Best of startups: Highlighting the most notable sports tech startups from 2022

Whether it’s performance-enhancing sensors or VR NBA simulations or 3-on-3 NFT competitions, startups in sports tech always have something up their sleeve. Sports metaverse Rumble Kong League is a 3v3 basketball NFT-enabled game where the players, called Kongs, are NFTs you own on the court. There’s always a way for any type of player or NFT collector to engage with the game, said co-founder Nick Vale, who describes it as “NBA Jam meets NBA Street meets new-age Cyberpunk.” The ambition is clear: gaming being that onboard to the next billion users to web3. 

🪙 Esports leading the revolution in crypto sports betting

From the standpoint of online casinos, crypto has developed into one of the most well-liked payment options. It’s quick and straightforward, and needs limited information about the bettors. All of these points also apply to sports betting, but crypto bookies remain less prevalent than crypto casinos. Sports betting using cryptocurrencies is on the rise, and esports are driving this subtle revolution in the field. Esports sponsorships are being used as marketing tools by blockchain networks like the Tezos Foundation to promote currencies and other initiatives like NFTs. Meanwhile, giving esports participants virtual currency is becoming more popular, opening up a wealth of potential in the developing metaverse.

🐯 MyLand.Earth metaverse and sports NFT fans celebrate New Year’s Eve with FIFA limited edition 2023 presale release

MyLand.Earth Metaverse, a first mover in Earth-based metaverse development, wildlife conservation, and cultural legacy preservation, released last New Year's Eve its MyLand.Earth Tiger Land FIFA Limited Edition NFTs along with its additional 25 free Tiger NFTs available to new and existing Myland.Earth members. It also issued limited edition #10 soccer apparel to celebrate all those in FIFA who wore  the number 10 jersey in honor of the athletes and teams that go “full out eye-of-the-tiger” to win. MyLand.Earth virtual real estate and metaverse land lot ownership offers investors a chance to participate in Earth-based metaverse development; it launched a first-of-its-kind 3D Navigation feature on the platform, as well as intend to beta-release MyLand Metaverse Engine in March to April to allow developers to implement 3D/VR contents and online users to upload their 2D/3D contents in templates available on the platform. 

⚽ Argentine Football Association partners with Upland to bring national league into the metaverse

We’ve reported this previously, but we can’t help but echo the news of AFA linking up with Upland, a real-life mapping metaverse initiative, to provide its consumers the option to enter the metaverse and experience the benefits of deeper interactions with teams and players. Upland and the AFA are working together to create digital representations of all of the league's teams, including players, tickets, games, historical moments, and platform-exclusive experiences. This may also assist the league in attracting younger, web3-focused followers as well as digital soccer collectors. The AFA's initial four-year deal seeks to raise revenue for the Argentine soccer league through the sale of different licensed digital assets.

🦁 Singapore: Fantasy football on AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup

Running from December 19 to January 16, the game ONSIDE Fantasy Football is the first of its kind in the Southeast Asian sports scene, seeing the prestigious ASEAN football championship come to life in web3. The digital collectibles, minted and distributed through the ONSIDE collection platform, will enhance the gameplay in Low6’s UltimateFan franchise. Real-life performances earn players points, and they then compete on a global contest leaderboard in Invitational Private Leagues with friends and family. The NFT collection, recently announced, can be applied to a playing squad for some score boost. 

💪 From Las Vegas to Croke Park: The big sports movers and shakers in 2023

2023 promises to be a field day for those working in or around the sports industry worldwide. In its A-Z rundown of sports trends and things to watch for, making the cut is making sense of the hype: the metaverse, DAOs, web3, NFTs, crypto, AI, AR, and anything in between that’s potentially game-changing for the athletic world. Candidly put: “Sport is the ideal platform to help promote, showcase, educate (and legitimize). But tread warily.” 

🥊 Pacquiao partners with NFT, crypto firms

Former eight-division boxing champion Manny Pacquiao has tied up with rising NFT wallet NFT One and START to provide new experiences to his Filipino fans. A former senator and entrepreneur, Pacquiao calls his NFT venture an opportune time to help Filipinos understand the technology better and help them, dubbing NFTs and cryptocurrencies the future of business. Pacquiao was also chosen as honorary chairman of START INC. NFT One is a trading platform and marketplace middleman app, where NFTs digitally representing assets such as digital artworks and real assets such as real estate can be stored in a digital wallet. 

💰 Profile: Sorare so precious

The rise of the Ethereum-powered, NFT-based fantasy football league operator Sorare has made it a Web3 unicorn, but not without controversy and regulators’ attention. The speed at which Sorare rose to the top was breathtaking: founded in 2018, it is now valued at $4.2B and in September 2021 raised $680M in funding. Investors were as varied as they come, from SoftBank to Gary Vaynerchuk to football star Rio Ferdinand. Larger-than-life athlete Kylian Mbappé also acts as a brand ambassador for the group. Unsurprisingly, it has signed myriad deals with sports clubs and leagues, including a $30M per year partnership with the English Premier League. Take a closer look at Sorare and its fantasy model, regulatory attention, and how it’s taking its high-value platform into the future. 

🏟️ Lookback: 4 major sports franchises that have jumped into web3

Sports is likely the most well-suited to benefit from NFTs, mostly for fan engagement and interaction. With NFTs, what used to be a yawning gap between teams and fans has narrowed with new technologies and sports aficionados can now preserve their favorite highlights, represent their favorite teams and players, and breathe new life to the age-old practice of trading collectibles. Some of the biggest sports franchises in the world have adopted NFTs to enhance their fan engagement: 

• NBA Top Shot, with full access to mint iconic highlights throughout the league’s almost 80-year history as collectible NFTs for its global fandom

• WWE Moonsault NFT marketplace, where fans can enjoy timed drops of 10,000-piece collections dubbed as “NFT Flips”

• Major League Soccer signing Bored Ape Striker, previously known as Bored Ape #6045

• NFL Rivals, a play-to-own experience slated for a 2023 launch but already drumming up interest in NFTs via the NFL Rarity League collection. 

💸 Finance buzz

The sports tech investment scene bustled in 2022, with some notable investments below (Source):

• Fanatics (US) - $1.5B in venture round for ecommerce, NFTs, and betting

• Goals (Sweden) - $15M in seed funding for esports and NFTs

• Rario (Singapore) - $120M in series A funding for NFTs

• Stakes (US) - $5.3M in seed funding for NFTs

🗣️ 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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