NFTs and EPL — Which EPL Clubs Have Joined The NFT Saga?
The novelty of NFTs has created an NFT fever that has swept through the sporting world. La Liga was the first major soccer league to sell NFTs and the National Basketball Association (NBA) has sold short clips of matches as NFTs.
The sale of Christiano Ronaldo’s NFT trading card for 245,072 euros ($289,000) shows just how much interest NFTs have received. Major leagues are venturing into the NFT marketplace and the clubs are going headfirst.
Let’s Talk About NFT
The term non-fungible means an object cannot be replaced. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital files that are stored on a blockchain.
The files are unique because blockchain technology allows for a public proof of ownership to be created. Thus, only one person can own that copy.
A bitcoin is fungible and if it is traded for another bitcoin, an exact copy is obtained. But if a person trades a non-fungible trading card for another card, a different copy is obtained.
Any digital file can be a non-fungible token. It could be a music file, trading card, or a tweet by Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey But the real excitement about NFTs is caused by the sale of digital art.
A growing community of art collectors sees NFTs as the next step in art collecting. An NFT can be a rare, collectible item like a Van Gogh painting or one of many copies of a GIF meme on the Internet.
Millions of dollars have been spent on NFTs and several have made headlines. A 50-second video of singer Grimes was bought for almost $390,000, while a video by Beeple was auctioned for $6.6 million. WWE also released an Undertaker NFT for this year’s WrestleMania.
EPL Clubs That Have Launched NFTs
Some Premier League clubs have already followed in the footsteps of their La Liga counterparts and launched their own NFTs. These clubs are seeking to both raise revenue and deepen connections with fans.
The EPL clubs that have joined in the NFT saga are:
Manchester City
The club launched its $City token in March on the tokenization platform Socios.com The token enabled fans to claim VIP rewards and vote in club polls.
After its Premier League win in May, City commemorated its title win with the ‘1’ collection, a digital artwork collection available as an NFT. It is the first time that a Premier League champion has celebrated a title win with an NFT.
Arsenal
Arsenal joined the Socios platform in July with its own fan token $AFC. Club fans can participate in club-themed games and quizzes. The token gives fans voting powers in both binding and non-binding club decisions.
$AFC is part of the My Arsenal Rewards initiative and members had the option of receiving a free token before it launched.
Everton
Everton’s $EFC fan token came on the 15th of September.
https://twitter.com/Everton/status/1438099126374342661?t=ANvY1myXR0Wj303VXJ0Vfg&s=19
On the launch, Everton commercial director Alan McTavish said: “There has been a lot of interest in our $EFC Fan Tokens that will give Evertonians, regardless of where in the world they are, the opportunity to get closer to their club and be part of, or in some cases join, our global family.” He added, “We look forward to working with Socios and Evertonians in developing some of the polls and unique experiences for our supporters.”
Everton became the third EPL club after City and Arsenal, to launch a fan token.
Aston Villa
The day following Everton’s announcement of the $EFC launch, Aston Villa announced the launch of the $AVL fan token.
Fans were able to participate in the AR-feature Token Hunt. Aston Villa is one of over 40 soccer teams to launch a fan token on Socios.com.
Leeds United
The club launched the $LUFC fan token on Socio.com in August.
They announced the launch in a tweet:
https://twitter.com/lufc/status/1423176954442813440?lang=en
In a press statement, the Executive Director at Leeds United, Paul Bell, said “ This partnership with Socios.com is another step forward for Leeds United as we look to provide more opportunities for our fans around the globe to get even closer to the club”
“We are committed to innovation on and off the field and this represents our first step into blockchain technology, we are delighted to take this step with Socios.com”.
The fans will be able to receive a free $LUFC fan token for a limited time. This makes Leeds United another one of the clubs that have joined the NFT train.
Socios is a direct-to-consumer (D2C) website that utilizes the advantages of blockchain technology to provide the world’s major leading sporting organizations with the tool to engage with their global Fan base.
So far, many football clubs across Europe have partnered with the platform to launch their various fan tokens.
Given the ongoing surge in NFT, we are expecting more football clubs to join the NFT train very soon.
