🏀 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

• In a recent survey, about 61% of respondents would like to try extreme sports in the metaverse, like skydiving or bungee jumping. (Source)

• The demand for sports memorabilia and trading cards - a space projected to grow at a 21.8% CAGR from 2022 to 2032, reaching a value of $227.2B by 2032 - has increased significantly due to the effects of digitalization and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the availability of collectibles through trustworthy online platforms. (Source)

📫 News & trends

🔗 OKX, Manchester City FC team up for sports metaverse

Manchester City Football Club has teamed up with cryptocurrency exchange OKX, the world’s second largest based on trading volume, to create a unique sports metaverse experience for its fans. This collaboration, which aims to bring fans closer to the action via immersive experiences, featured legends such as Alex Greenwood, Jack Grealish, Rúben Dias, and Ilkay Gündoğan. 

The Collective will offer fans a sports metaverse environment complete with bespoke content and rewards, while each player will feature content based on playing style and interests such as training, music, and NFTs. We’re eager to watch the action closely as OKX serves as Manchester City’s official training kit partner for the 2022-23 season.

🏈 NFL and Roblox plan first ever Super Bowl concert in the metaverse

The National Football League (NFL) has partnered with gaming platform Roblox to launch a free virtual Super Bowl concert in the metaverse featuring hip-hop artist Saweetie, premiering on February 10 and airing every hour until the Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs on February 12. Some of the exciting details: 

• The concert will take place within Rhythm City, Warner Music Group’s virtual experience in Roblox metaverse.

• NFL and Roblox also launched Super NFL Tycoon experience, allowing fans to access a simulation of life as a team owner.

• A designated portal will allow users to move between the two metaverse experiences.

• The NFL was the first major North American sports league to partner with Roblox in 2022, with the child-focused platform actively courting sports partnerships keen to tap its young, highly engaged audience.

✅ Meta tests members-only spaces in Horizon Worlds metaverse environment

Meta, the company behind VR platform Horizon Worlds, has started testing members-only environments, a new feature that allows owners of virtual worlds to handpick which members can be admitted. The alpha test is currently limited to 150 total users and 25 concurrent visitors. The members-only spaces provide a unique opportunity for rights holders, content creators, and brands to create private communities where they can engage with their audiences more intimately.

Horizon Worlds is a VR social universe developed for the Meta Quest headset, designed for gatherings, events, games and other digital experiences. So far, more than 10,000 public “worlds” have been built on the platform. The NBA and UFC are already on Horizon Worlds. 

💪 WBD Sports launches ‘watch to earn’ Web 3.0 trivia quiz on Inside the NBA

Warner Bros Discovery Sports has launched B/R W2E, a web3-based trivia quiz and fan loyalty program that runs during weekly broadcasts of its Inside the NBA magazine show. Here’s how it works: B/R W2E rewards players with digital tokens for correctly answering questions about basketball and recent episodes of the show; the tokens can then be redeemed for a range of digital and physical rewards, including NFTs, invitations to exclusive events, and sporting memorabilia. This innovative use of web3 technologies holds promise to create a more engaged fanbase for the NBA, which could benefit the league when it awards its next round of TV rights packages. 

💥 How NFTs are changing the game for professional athletes

The world of sports memorabilia is fast transforming thanks to the emergence of NFTs, which are cryptographic assets stored on a blockchain that allow athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness in novel ways. Some key facts and details:

• By issuing NFTs, athletes can offer fans access to exclusive content, merchandise, and experiences, all while retaining control over their rights and earning royalties on resales.

• Several sports agencies, including Young Money APAA Sports, Disruptive, Wasserman, Creative Artists Agency, VaynerSports, and Steinberg Sports, are now providing their clients with their own digital player cards - digital collectibles that offer fans a new way to engage with their favorite athletes.

NFTs are only the beginning as the metaverse soon offers opportunities for athletes to both enhance their brand and engage with fans.

💰 This college dropout sold his first company for six figures at 21. Here’s his recipe for success

When Kevin Kim dropped out of college at 21 to become an entrepreneur, it was a huge gamble that made his mother cry a little. He sold his first company he started at age 18 - an e-commerce company that imported streetwear from South Korea and sold it all over North America - for “six figures” despite a modest starting capital of $2,000. 

Kim spent almost 10 years building digital products for other startups and companies, before venturing out on his own in 2020 with Stadium Live, a metaverse app for sports fans. The app allows users to customize their own avatars, buy digital collectibles, bond with other fans in virtual rooms, take part in interactive sports live streams, or play mini games.

₿ Crypto ad deals for Super Bowl LVII fell apart after FTX collapse: Report

As Super Bowl LVII approaches, it's become clear that there will be a notable absence of crypto commercials on the big stage as several potential deals for crypto commercials fell apart following the FTX bankruptcy filing. Fox Sports executive Mark Evans confirmed there will be “zero representation” from major crypto companies in the Super Bowl this year, perhaps also due in part to the increased scrutiny of crypto ads by global authorities in the wake of the 2022 market crash and the spate of bankruptcies. Gaming startup Limit Break, however, is breaking the trend by offering dragon-themed NFTs as part of its Super Bowl giveaways.

🏃‍♂️Quick hits 

• UFC Strike is launching an NFT game in Q2 of 2023, to be built by web3 platform Concept Labs. Rob Wrinkler, head of games at Concept Labs, is also taking over as GM of Strike, as web3 sports community The First Mint reported on Twitter. 

• The Kenya Premier League (KPL) has partnered with tech startup Kasuku to launch a new KPL NFT. Essentially joining a growing stable of football organizations venturing into NFTs, KPL aims to “demystify the metaverse” and offer its consumers a product recorded into blockchain to certify authenticity and ownership. 

• Authena, a product authenticity and traceability app, solves jersey shortages and team-branded merch counterfeiting. Its M3TA, fresh from a CES 2023 debut, lets teams issue NFTs to fans to be exchanged for merch with metaverse portability, allowing them to wear gear both physically and virtually.

• In India, Disney subsidiary Disney Star is rolling out its metaverse platform called Starverse, the first iteration of which is an immersive 3D ecosystem for sports fans that’s bound to be an always-on experience for users. 

• In Pakistan, Islamabad United launches what it touts as the world’s first cricketing metaverse. It also claims to be the first cricket team to enter the metaverse with a world-first built-to-scale virtual stadium built on Decentraland, running alongside a twin stadium that will be available on Android.

💸 Finance buzz

• Sports metaverse company LootMogul is partnering with sports marketing and commercial rights agency Six Sport, to support its strategic growth and expedite the adoption of blockchain gaming for sports organizations and athletes, delivering immersive sports fan experiences. (Source)

🗣️ 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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