Juventus has signed a multi-year strategic partnership with blockchain and crypto platform Socios.com to create the Juventus Official Fan token. Two weeks ago Socios.com announced it signed a similar deal with French football club Paris Saint Germain (PSG).
The leading Italian football club claims to have 340 million supporters globally and a 60 million social media fanbase. The tradeable Fan Token will enable fans to participate in a mobile voting and polling platform. As with the PSG deal, there will be a Fan Token Offering in early 2019 so fans can buy the tokens.
Giorgio Ricci, Co-Chief Revenue Officer of Juventus says: “Juventus is glad to welcome Socios.com to our partners. At the Club we are always very careful and pro-active towards innovation and new technologies. Together with Socios.com we believe we can offer new opportunities to our worldwide fan base to engage in cutting-edge way with their favorite club.”
Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO & Founder of Socios.com outlined his vision for the company: “Our long-term aim is to onboard more than 50 football clubs and we hope to inject an additional $300 million into the sports economy over the next few years. We have started at the very top, with some of the biggest names in football, and our ambition is to build the world’s biggest global football community and marketplace for football fans alongside demonstrating that blockchain and cryptocurrency is the trusted technology of the mainstream.”
Last week Bitmain’s AntPool signed a sponsorship deal with the NBA’s Houston Rockets basketball team.
What’s the point?
From the individual club perspective, the idea is to encourage fan engagement. Supporters can vote on decisions. While the coaches aren’t likely to cede control over team selection any time soon, other decisions are possible. For example, users could select kit designs.
More importantly, the tokens can be used for rewards, whether that’s a discount on a TV subscription, merchandise, or something else.
From Socios perspective, they plan to make tokens tradeable.
The question is what the killer app is? Rewards is one. But the most natural fit is fantasy sports.
