Yesterday I came across this post from Rodri Fernandez, cofounder of Crossmint:
The first sentence caught my eye, AC Milan is tokenizing their stadium?!
Not literally. They are splitting up their football pitch (soccer field) into 1 yard x 1 yard digital plots and tokenizing them. These ‘blocks’ are then repackaged and sold to fans to own via Fanblock.
If certain moments happen on specific plots such as an assist or goal, the holder earns block points. These points can be redeemed for rewards like match tickets, meet and greets, and merch.
I know what you might be thinking, I thought it too: RIP the game and sport 💀
But if we think a little deeper, sports have increasingly become gamified and monetized. There are games within the game itself:
When covering The First Mint’s Media Pass launch, I noted how many US-based sporting events host giveaways like t-shirt tosses, sponsored seat upgrades, and fan contests during halftime breaks
Fantasy sports have become a pillar of sporting culture, with every sport having a version of this. This has caused fandom to become more complex in situations where you might be a fan of a particular team, but your top fantasy player is the opponent for the week. Oftentimes money is on the line, facilitated by platforms like Draftkings (web2 version), Draftkings Reignmakers (web3 version), and SoRare (web3).
Sports betting in the US has skyrocketed after the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban in May 2018, which explains why we see ads and sponsorships for sports betting everywhere.
Figures are in $ billions, source
If anything, the Fanblock concept is actually relatively tame, and shows the focus and potential for deepening fandom and team x fan relationships while increasing datapoints around fandom.
If the Fanblock x AC Milan experiment does well, I can imagine other teams, and even leagues taking this a step further:
Could this concept expand to away games with limited edition sales in partnership with the opposing team?
Applying point multipliers for Fanblock holders that attend the home games with NFC or geo-fenced check-ins
Creating ‘referee blocks’ to allow fan engagement when referees make calls. Teams can understand fan sentiment (and bias) towards officiating calls, which are oftentimes prone to human error. These moments can have strict time limitations and encourage real-time engagement. If fans make the correct call, they earn extra fan points.
The sports industry has some of the most diehard fans, which explains why leagues and teams are embracing blockchain and web3 with innovative approaches and experiments. On top of that, they are rooted in IRL experiences and physical goods that can be tangible for even the most skeptical of fans. More variations of these fan activations will pop up and I’ll be rooting them on, regardless of the team 😉
Is it football or soccer? If football, share this. If soccer, subscribe with a second email address.
Earlier today, I came across this hypothetical UI concept from danii for providing founder feedback:
Although this mock feature pokes fun at the ‘Floor it and GTFO’ meme that will be a part of Doodles lore, I think this is actually a great concept for gathering feedback.
This concept already exists in different ways, with email newsletter unsubscription surveys coming to mind:
That last option is…blunt
If this was a real feature, the ‘exit survey’ would be helpful for teams to gather feedback. Additionally, they could hypothetically customize it across different parameters:
This modal doesn’t have to appear for every sale
If a wallet holds 10 Doodles, and the user is selling just 1, it’s not as big of a deal compared to a wallet that holds 1 Doodle and is selling.
Length held
If the NFT is held for < 3 months, it may indicate the wallet purchased for more speculative and financial reasons vs for the community. It’s likely a different situation if that wallet minted the Doodle and is selling.
Wallet participation is ecosystem events
In the case of Doodles, there have been many multiple activations in their ecosystem including Space Doodles, Doodles 2, IRL events, and Doodles Genesis Boxes. If that wallet is selling their Doodle assets and has participated in all those events, it may be important to get some feedback.
This concept can apply on the other end as well with a purchase. Leveraging the emotional high of purchasing a NFT and joining the community, a welcome modal can pop up with a couple questions like the traditional HDYHAU (how did you hear about us) question, or something like ‘What are you looking forward to from _____?’
Again, specific parameters could applied to wallets to customize questions as appropriate.
This feature is a ‘nice to have’ but could be a differentiating feature for marketplaces to support founders or NFT verification tools like Collab.Land or Vulcan.
Concepts like these show that there is still so much opportunity when it comes to UI/UX in web3, especially for new participants and community members.
See you next week!
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