After revolutionizing major sports and leagues globally such as the UFC, La Liga, etc, these non-fungible tokens also known as the NFTs are all set to shift the paradigm in the sport of cricket as well.
These NFTs allow fans to own the history of the sport by giving them an opportunity to acquire several digital arts of cricket. These collectibles are provided with a certificate of authenticity and the NFTs will be given a unique code as proof of the authenticity of the owned digital collectible.
Several NFT companies around the world have started setting up partnerships with cricket leagues and teams.
Recently, one of the Indian tech and NFT platforms, Rario had signed deals with the Sri Lankan Premier League and Abu Dhabi T10 league. Rario has inked a collaboration with Zaheer Khan, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, AB De Villiers, Shakib Al Hasan and Faf du Plessis who will be offering their digital collectibles on the NFT platform for allowing fans to collect and trade iconic moments of their career.
There were even reports that Rario is planning to form associations with cricket boards such as the BCCI, PCB, and ECB.
Recently, one of the Singapore-based blockchain platforms, Cricket Foundation has launched its NFT marketplace with over 50 unique cricket moments.
The Singapore-based brand, which is backed by the former cricketer Parthiv Patel as its co-founder has already got over 100+ partnerships in place with cricketers, which includes popular names like VVS Laxman, Wasim Akram, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha, and Lance Klusener.
Even some of the franchises of the Indian Premier League have joined the bandwagon of fan tokens and NFTs. Recently, three IPL franchises, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, and Kolkata Knight Riders signed a partnership with the world’s leading sports tech fan engagement and monetization platform, Socios.com.
Socios.com will be providing these franchises and their fans with fan tokens that are digital assets minted on the Chiliz blockchain. This provides owners with access to voting rights in polls, VIP rewards, exclusive club, and sponsor promotions, AR-enabled features, chat forums, games, and competitions.
The fan engagement through purchasing these NFTs is expanding rapidly and becoming popular amongst sports enthusiasts. In the current year, $120 million have been spent on such tokens as per Nairametrics. With the enormous fanbase that cricket as a sport has got all over the world, we would be able to observe more and more NFT partnerships.