February 6, 2023
Premier League Fantasy Sports Deal Renews Interest in NFT Transactions
Garrett Burnett
We are currently enduring what many business analysts have deemed the “Crypto winter.” This phrase, first coined by South African data analyst Eugéne Etsebeth in 2018, demonstrates the severe downturn in the value of Cryptocurrency, most directly linked with the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, but that was not the beginning of what is expected to be the long, cold winter for Cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Experts say that we have been in this winter season for nearly one year already. The fall of FTX was only a winter storm surge that further exacerbated the weariness of new individuals to enter the Cryptocurrency market, led to previous users fleeing for cover, forced venture capitalists to seriously reevaluate their direct investments into Cryptocurrency, and sparked new discussions regarding the current regulatory measures, or lack thereof, placed on Cryptocurrency markets.
In the overall market, NFTs appear to be experiencing a similar recession to that of Cryptocurrency. According to CNBC, total trading volume of NFTs was down to $678.2 million in December 2022 from nearly $3.1 billion just a year prior. Despite this massive reduction in trading, NFTs in both the sports and fashion sectors seem to be on the rise.
Sorare just inked a new deal with the Premier League, reportedly worth UK£30m annually, to be the League’s fantasy sports platform. Sorare occupies a unique position within the fantasy sports market as it also allows its users to purchase NFTs of their favorite players at virtual auctions. These NFT trading cards then act as manifestations of the actual players on the pitch. Similar to a traditional fantasy sports experience, users are tasked with drafting a team of players and strategically selecting who they want to represent their club that week. Based on the players’ performances, the “managers” (users) are awarded points with the highest point values being awarded to the individual players with the best performances.
Despite its late January release date, the Premier League competition has already registered over 100,000 “managers” competing against one another to dominate yet another fantasy sports league.
Nicolas Julia, co-founder and CEO of Sorare, was quoted by Ryan Browne of CNBC saying that Sorare has “trended very differently from the rest of the space.” In fact, Sorare has held strong in the crypto winter, and they do not show signs of slowing down anytime soon. Closing the Premier League deal is a massive win for Sorare and only further consolidates football fantasy sports.
This is not Sorare’s first venture into the football fantasy space. They already have multiple leagues on their platform including, but not limited to: La Liga, Serie A, Budesliga, Ligue 1, MLS, Superliga Argentina, Liga MX, Primera A, and many more. Sorare is clearly a dominating force in the fantasy football space, but, according to CNBC, they also hold the third-largest collection of NFTs in the world. Beyond Sorare’s collection, users can develop and utilize their own NFT collections to win weekly competitions. This added element of competition has commanded the attention of additional NFT purchasers who can continue to build their collections without the fear of their collections disappearing upon the expiration of the Sorare deal with the Premier League. If the Premier League opts not to exercise their renewal option, the NFTs will not expire or change their ownership status.
In all, this Sorare and Premier League deal is poised to harness a new herd of NFT collectors. Although only a small portion of the userbase currently opt to purchase NFTs in the game, as the number of users increases so does the competition. If you want to win, you just might have to start collecting the NFT trading cards of your favorite football superstars to add to your roster next week.