🏀 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

• The sports metaverse is expected to grow to $80B by 2030, according to web3 investment firm Web3 Studio. (Source)

• Brazil’s NFT marketplace, known to partner with local football legends to drive growth, is expected to grow 48.4% in 2022 and seen as a booming new revenue generator. (Source)

• NBA Top Shot collectibles have generated about $1B in total sales since their launch in 2020. (Source)

• Web3-native fantasy sports platform Sorare has generated some $500M in total sales since taking off in 2019. (Source)

• Got $50? Cop a pair of Nike’s digital sneakers for its .Swoosh web3 platform at this price, according to Fast Company. (Source)

📫 News & trends

⚽ The NFL hopes video games can get young people into sports again

The National Football League (NFL) announced Thursday the NFL Zone, its ongoing virtual presence in Fortnite’s Creative mode, which involves mini games, modified versions of Fortnite’s game modes using football jargon, and collaborations with top gamers and streamers. On Roblox, the league recently launched NFL Tycoon for building NFL-branded stadiums and the mini game Quarterback Simulator.

The NFL commits to the metaverse amid waning interest among younger generations in traditional sports, with an internal ESPN poll showing “avid” sports fans ages 12 to 17 declining from 42% in 2010 to 34% in 2020. Matthew Ball, “The Metaverse” author and former strategy head at Amazon Studios, says sports leagues are irrelevant in media relevant to younger people, highlighting the need to create a “native experience” that gamers can feel, touch, and use for self-expression.

On the heels of previous Fortnite collaborations, NFL gamely moves further in this direction, including a forthcoming NFT-based game, a relaunch of the NFL 2K series, and a recent VR-based game. In a rapidly evolving space like the metaverse, Ball notes it all boils down to creative implementation.

🖥️ Is this how we’ll watch the next World Cup?

The metaverse will revolutionize how fans engage with the most watched football tournament on Earth - and the wider world of sport, says former Liverpool and EA Sports chief executive Peter Moore. Two examples are bringing impossible camera angles to life, such as those enabled in sports video gaming, and blurring the line between the digital and the physical in the sports world. The World Cup, with its universal appeal, has always served as a barometer for changes in technology and consumption habits.

🏇 NYRA partners with NFT-based Game of Silks

It’s horse racing’s version of fantasy sports in the metaverse coming to life. NYRA Bets Holding, an affiliate of New York Racing Association (NYRA), has acquired a minority equity ownership position in Game of Silks, an online game involved in thoroughbred horse racing. This makes Silks the official blockchain game and metaverse partner of NYRA, dubbed “an unbelievable marriage” for a technology company to attract more people to the sport. To play the Game of Silks, users need to purchase an NFT via a unique racing silk. They receive rewards tied into their NFT horse’s real-world success, whether on the track or in the breeding shed.

🔥 Warriors' Stephen Curry, Serena Williams among celebrities named in Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT lawsuit

Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry and tennis legend Serena Williams are among the celebrities named in a class-action lawsuit against NFT company Bored Ape Yacht Club, which alleges that celebrity endorsement artificially increased the interest and value of the BAYC NFTs and Yuga Labs' Apecoin crypto tokens. This, according to the lawsuit filed in California, has resulted in "staggering losses'' for buyers. Curry is also a defendant in a class-action lawsuit against FTX, alongside other high-profile sports figures Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal and Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, to name a few.

🏀 Orange Comet pairs with ex-NBA star Scottie Pippen

Six-time NBA champion Scottie Pippen is the latest former pro player to launch an NFT collection, teaming up with NFT platform Orange Comet for his “SP33 Collection” of sneakers. Dropping on December 20, the NFT will have a 1,000-piece initial release and will include 33 randomly selected recipients of a custom sneaker. Single winner recipients are eligible to receive a hometown tour and dinner with Pippen, or a golf outing with the Chicago Bulls legend.

💯 LeBron's wife, Savannah James, enters the metaverse with new platform ‘Lockerverse’

A new platform called Lockerverse seeks to be an e-hub for emerging athletes, entertainers, artists, designers, and brands to drive storytelling and provide fans exclusive access to merchandise, digital and IRL experiences, content, gaming, and community. Entrepreneur and LeBron James’ wife Savannah James is joining its founding team, formed by college friends William A.I. “Trey” McDonald, James Carlo McFall, and Marcus Rance. This isn’t the first sports-related foray into the metaverse, where athletes have made major virtual real estate moves and made pricey buys for entire private islands in the metaverse.

🏟️ How the metaverse can shape the future of sports viewing

An elevated viewing experience: fans creating their own avatar, decked out in their team’s colors; attending a virtual bar to socialize with fellow fans; getting ID’d via their own voice prints to unlock the virtual world. The metaverse is thought to create a sports viewing journey that’s a far cry from stadium crowds or TV viewers stuck on their sofas, ultimately reshaping sports training as well as how sports clubs monetize digital properties.

❤️ Black woman becomes a sports league owner in the metaverse

Sara “Lovestyle” Hood, CEO of Sara Belay Inc., has announced her ownership of the Houston Hyenas in David J. Ortiz’s SimWin Sports, a metaverse sports league. This is a rarity as the tech entrepreneur joins a small number of Black women who own sports leagues. The digital sports league is reported to be the first operation worldwide to sell professional sports franchises such as NFTs, with franchises owned by some of the biggest pro athletes in the world.

💪 4 major sports franchises that have jumped into web3

Sports is well-suited to integrate NFTs in engaging and interacting with fans, enabling them to preserve their favorite highlights, represent their team and player favorites, and even keep trading collectibles as in the old days. Check out how and why NBA Top Shot is redefining the future of trading cards, wrestling entertainment authority WWE’s Moonsault NFT marketplace is delighting fans with the 10,000-piece collection NFT Flips, Major League Soccer is signing a Bored Ape, and general manager simulator NFL Rivals is kicking off the league’s involvement in P2E gaming.

🤖 Foremost Taiwan research agency is abuzz with sports, fitness, AI and robotics these days 

Taiwan’s foremost high-tech applied research institution Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) is showcasing smart clothing tech iMetaWeaR at CES 2023 and CES Unveiled Las Vegas in January. Using multi-position electrical stimulation, iMetaWeaR creates an enhanced metaverse experience for players of virtual sports such as boxing and fencing. The smart clothing features dry, washable fabric-based electrodes screen-printed into somasensory garments, comfortable elastic feature and customized design, as well as robust control mode for varying stimulations in an immersive environment.

🇮🇳 Tech firms on BSV blockchain come together for sport metaverse pilot project

Indian blockchain-based firms join forces to develop the Sport Metaverse, envisioned to be a one-stop sports hub that brings physical sports into the metaverse. Blockchain-based sports platform Zetly, XR pioneer Transmira, gaming firm Haste Arcade, and play-to-earn chess platform PowChess seek to enrich the sports fan-team bond via digital collectibles, NFTs, other tokenized assets, and virtual P2E games, with the technology linking the club’s digital objects to real-world assets for creators’ monetization.

💸 Finance buzz

• In September, sports metaverse startup LootMogul secured a $200M investment to boost its metaverse focused on sports games, including “building meta (virtual) sports cities around the world” with brands and sports pros on a multichain platform on multiple devices like Oculus. (Source)

• NYRA Bets Holding, an affiliate of New York Racing Association (NYRA), has taken a minority stake in Game of Silks and named it its official blockchain game and metaverse partner. (Source)

🗣️ Quote of the week

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