Should the EPL get into NFTs?

Why the EPL is Drawing Concerns Regarding Their Newest Partnership Category

Original Photo: Michael Regan/ Getty Images

If you haven’t heard of an NFT yet, you’re falling behind. Read this blog, previously made by the wwm team to enlighten you before you continue reading. Now that you, your mom, and all of your friends from university are caught up on NFTs, let’s fill you in on the latest news. The English Premier League (EPL) is considering a partnership with a crypto platform. Who isn’t? Some clubs are already involved with NFTs whether it be with Socios or Sorare, where the respective platforms allow fans to collect digital assets like tokens or trading cards.

However, this is where we get to the meat and potatoes of it all: fans are concerned. With crypto being an unregulated space, consumers aren’t protected. Thus, fans have a higher risk of losing money if they fall down the wrong rabbit hole.

Additionally, the EPL is also facing issues regarding sports betting companies as sponsors. Why do you ask? The same issue as crypto, fans are concerned. Both crypto and gambling are offerings that fans need to engage with responsibly. With that, Parliament is discussing the possibility of nixing clubs the opportunity to partner with gambling sponsors due to this concern.

Now you may be wondering, if sports betting companies are banned from sponsorships, should crypto be banned as well?

Those decisions are beyond our paygrade and we’ll leave that to Parliament. Fortunately, sporting marketing is right in our wheelhouse and we’ll be sure to provide you with some thoughts on the good and bad sides of NFTs in sports.

The Good. It’s a new way for fans to engage or interact with fans. Not everyone is psyched about inheriting their parent’s old o’pee chee cards, some much rather be fully digital. No paper. No books. All cloud, all the time. They’d even ask why would I not invest in something that provides me pleasure and potential value. No brainer. In addition to the pleasure and value they receive from purchasing their favourite players' NFTs, maybe there are some tangible benefits that are included: signed jersey? Meet and greet? Exclusive fan club to consume athlete content? Love it. There’s an endless amount of options that an NFT could provide to the modern-day fan and athlete if done correctly.

The Bad. Joey from down the block purchases an Auston Matthews NFT, WHOOPIE! He hasn’t been this psyched since the Leafs last playoff win…, he’s going to get rich and he has something Jim from around the corner doesn’t - Auston Matthews’ NFT. But, wait. Crypto plummeted at 2 am last night, why? No idea. So the asset that Joey purchased for $10,000 is no longer worth $10,000 8 hours later, but it’s actually worth $4,000. His family is going to kill him! How does that impact an athlete you may ask? Well now Joey, the die-hard fan, has a negative sentiment connected to his favourite player. Not only has his team not won a playoff round, but they’ve now lost him significant coin, the loonie kind. This is why at white whale mktg, we went through the whole process of developing NFTs for some of our athletes but stopped at the 1-yard line. Our NFTs are available on OpenSea (marketplace for NFTs), but we have not sold or auctioned them to ensure the sentiments around our athletes are still within our control.

Published: December 3, 2021 - Issue 16 of The Sport Marketeer