Sports NFTs in 2023: what to expect after the World Cup

The 2022 FIFA World Cup has given impetus to many brands and companies selling NFTs to create memorabilia for sports fans. Will this trend continue in 2023? Sports boom in the digital industry One of the features of the 2022 FIFA World Cup was its close connection with the crypto industry. As many crypto enthusiasts hope, this big sporting event could give a powerful impetus to increasing the interest of the general public in digital assets.. In particular, this applies to the explosive growth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), creating memorable memories for sports fans. One of the legends of world football, Lionel Messi became a partner of the Bitget crypto exchange, as well as an ambassador and investor of the Sorare NFT platform. Another football celebrity, Cristiano Ronaldo, also announced a partnership with the Binance crypto exchange and the creation of his NFT collection. The International Football Federation (FIFA) announced the creation of the FIFA World metaverse in partnership with Roblox, and also signed a sponsorship contract with the Algorand blockchain platform to launch the FIFA + Collect NFT platform. Its goal was to offer football fans, at an affordable price, unique digital collectibles related to their favorite clubs and World Cup memorabilia.. Crypto.com also partnered with Visa to launch an NFT to celebrate the World Cup, and Nike's Web3 division, RTFKT, announced in December that it would launch a limited edition smart shoe with an integrated chip for a STEPN-like game. Sports NFT Prospects Sports NFT market boomed, doubling from $1.30B to $2.60B in 2022. Now, after the end of the Championship, the main question is whether this NFT trend will continue in 2023. According to Market Decipher research, the sports NFT segment is expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36.30%, helping it reach $41.60 billion by 2032.. Source: MarketDecipher In addition, we can see that NFTs of some teams can become more exclusive than others. As we already saw in the first days of the World Cup kicked off in Qatar, the rate of the Argentinean ARG fan token collapsed by about 25% when the Argentina national team suffered an unexpected defeat from rivals from Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the NFT token of the winning team, The Saudis, exploded in price, with sales up 387%.. However, subsequently, the ARG chicken managed to win back some of the lost points, since the Argentines defeated the Croats and nevertheless reached the World Cup final. Source: BeInCrypto In general, the value and cost of sports NFTs are determined by two factors: the rarity of the token and the advantages associated with it. As we said earlier, more and more sports clubs are realizing that the crypto industry can become an additional source of income for them through the issuance of fan tokens. Meanwhile, for the fans, they are also the “golden ticket”. NFTs give them the chance to get VIP seats to a game, a pass to an exclusive event, a discount on their team's merchandise, or even the chance to meet their favorite player in person.. In addition, such tokens themselves are a memorable and valuable collectible item. Digital assets that can be transferred from one platform to another are expected to play an important role in the development of the metaverse. The fully immersive virtual experience will allow fans to create their own avatars, buy and sell merch, and even attend online games. Overall, web3 and NFT technologies will bring new value to traditional sporting events such as the World Cup.. Sports Fans Meet Digital Billy Huang, co-founder and CEO of Insomnia Labs, told BeInCrypto that he will be interested to see how brands and organizations that continue to bet on consumer loyalty develop new offerings. “With web3 becoming the go-between for sports brands and their customers, digital art ownership is in the spotlight.. Web3 allows brands to build communities, get product reviews, and deliver more personalized offerings to their loyal customers.. Meanwhile, consumers feel more involved in the process of creating and owning the products that interest them,” he adds. In his opinion, in 2021 and 2022, the introduction of Web3 technology to sports fandoms was predominantly through various types of digital collectibles, such as trade and exchange cards, game highlight cuts and portrait NFTs.. Meanwhile, while these apps will continue to be an important part of the web3 sports fandom, we should see a number of other innovations rapidly develop. Judging by the current trends, this could be a direction aimed at some kind of practical value for fans: tickets to sports events, digital handheld and wearable devices (like Insomnia Lab's Genesis Curry Flow NFT Collection, wearable cross-platform digital sneakers that you can put on your avatar in games), as well as blurring the line between physical and digital goods. Disclaimer All information contained on our website is published on the principles of good faith and objectivity, and for informational purposes only.. The reader is solely responsible for any actions taken by him on the basis of information received on our website.