CRYPTO, NFTS AND AUSTRALIAN SPORTING LEAGUES

in Sport

April 11, 2022

At the SportNXT thought leadership Summit in Melbourne, The AFL announced a partnership with Animoca to release NFTs, a partnership likely to begin with a drop to celebrate Buddy’s 1000th goal. The AFLPA will take a 20% share of the sale price, from which the player in question’s cut will be taken – with another 5 per cent set aside for marketing costs.

For the sake of footy fans, let’s hope it’s more than an attempt to cash in on the current NFT bubble before it pops.

For mine, a better game plan is a long-term product-led strategy, where you believe in the value of the blockchain to sport and it’s fans, and that value goes beyond NFT’s and the often associated short-term commercial outcomes.

With cryptocurrency, NFT’s and fan tokens gaining traction globally, major Australian rightsholders including the AFL, Australian Grand Prix, Cricket Australia, NBL, NRL and Tennis Australia are beginning to innovate in these areas and testing the financial appetite of their fans.

In Gemba’s latest industry pulse-check, we unpack the attitudes and behaviours of Australian sporting fans toward cryptocurrency and NFTs. Key highlights of this free report include:

  • Among fanatics of major Australian sports leagues, interest in crypto and NFT investment is higher than that of the total population
  • Despite the higher tendency of sports fans to invest, only a handful of Australian leagues have official crypto partners or NFTs
  • For Australian sports fanatics who trade crypto, the main sources of information are YouTube and general internet searches
  • Basketball, Football (Soccer) and Rugby fans lead other fans in their investment in Crypto and NFTs

Click here to download the report or get in touch to find out more about our sport and entertainment insights program.