NFTs in Sports- What might their evolution look like? 

Everywhere in this space, you hear about Non-fungible Token Development as the recent hype. But what exactly is it? The acronym stands for Non-Fungible Token, which is an irreplaceable, digitally protected object. If this does not really help you to make things easier to understand, then let me share an example. 

NFT or Non-fungible token is a unique digital identifier that uses blockchain technology to record the ownership of a specific digital asset. Just imagine you are an ardent and passionate collector of stickers for a soccer album. The logo of Manchester United is available on the internet, and you can easily swap the logo you own with another, identical ManU logo. This logo is fungible and replaceable. Now when you look at the sticker of Robert Lewandowski (soccer player) that only exists once, and no matter how many times or with which sticker you would swap, you would always get something unique. This makes the soccer player’s sticker irreplaceable (i.e., Non-fungible).

If you own that unique sticker, you have the ownership that says it is your possession, and it exists only once. 

NFT in the sports industry - where can it be positioned in the foreseeable future? 

NFTs in sports have gained high popularity in recent times. According to a recent study, the value of the relatively broad sports NFT market is expected to rise to $75 billion by 2025. 

Use Cases of NFT in sports: 

Season ticket member NFTs. 

What are they?

As stated earlier, many sports companies have already started to consider the shift of tickets to digital tokens, especially the season ticket members ( STMs). This is with the access to the special content from the real world, such as data about the stadium experience. Also, this can provide teams with an opportunity to serve their season ticket waitlist. Along with a small annual fee, waitlist members can receive the same digital perks as Season ticket members. 

How can they be useful? 

Season ticket member NFTs are a verified pass for team members to whatever special content they can dream up. This also includes special VIP areas of the venue, traditional benefits of tickets, and discounts at the concession stand with full confidence in their authenticity.

But here, the tokenized season tickets allow organizations to go even further. STMs can receive a special collection of NFTs for many games. Within a few years, they can expect this recognition as a standard part of their membership, and they can show off to their fandom.  

When considering sponsors, tokenization is a great way to align themselves with a league and create a unique activation that builds equity for both brands. This has been done for many years, but by using blockchain technology, sponsors can verify and ensure that their customers don't lose benefits even if they misplace their physical tickets. 

So what does it all mean? 

Most of the top industries have always responded well to shifts in operational function and customer behavior. When it is combined with Web3, it will certainly be a major one.

No wonder NFT Development is here to stay and conquer. The sky is the limit here. We will see many successful sports projects through NFTs.