Tickets and experiences a haven for crypto and NFTs
By Jason Wilson
Crypto winter is coming for Binance and Coinbase, but it looks like one sector may not only survive, but grow. SBJ’s Bret McCormick breaks down how sports leagues and teams are looking at NFTs differently.
Today’s Power Up looks at:
- Nuggets’ NBA Finals win STEM
- CBS Sports ready for innovation
- Karate Combat goes to the symphony
The Credenza project is one of the blockchain-powered efforts that joins the backdrop of the crypto winter and the NFT market’s plunge in interest, relevance and value, writes SBJ’s Bret McCormick in this week’s magazine.
Fan experience-related blockchain efforts centered around universal identity, such as Credenza, and blockchain ticketing projects remain of interest to the sports world despite technology’s sudden fall into the background and AI’s equally sudden seizure of the zeitgeist. Professional Fighters League, F1 and SI Tickets have all recently launched NFT ticketing programs on blockchains.
Credenza, which has raised about $2 million in total from investors, and its flagship product is Passport, which acts as the connective tissue across all digital and real-world fan experience touchpoints, such as ticketing, concessions, merchandise, sports betting and ingress.
Another project comes from True Tickets, which is not building a new ticketing company powered by blockchain, but rather creating an enforcement engine for rights holders that can be coded into the ticket at creation and integrated into any ticketing system.
The Nuggets haven’t earned a championship ring yet, but they have earned VR, SBJ’s Tom Friend reports from Denver.
By reaching the NBA Finals, the team was able to participate in the NBA Cares Finals Legacy Project – presented by YouTube TV – and donate a STEM lab to the Arthur E. Johnson Boys & Girls Club near downtown Denver.
Between Games 1 and 2 of the championship series last week, the team cut the ribbon on a renovated classroom that now houses an immersive Smart Board that allows students to learn via virtual reality headsets. A Smart Board typically costs between $2,000-$4,000 and allows teachers to interact with students through live TV programming and Oculus headgear.
The classroom was full of technology, including state-of-the-art laptops and a Dremel DigiLab 3D printer that is compatible with Chromebooks and iPads. The space was also updated with new flooring, furniture, wall graphics and paint. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Nuggets Vice President Josh Kroenke and Nuggets players DeAndre Jordan, Christian Braun, Ish Smith, Jeff Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope all attended the ceremony – engaging with the approximately 50 children in attendance.
CBS Sports formed a strategic partnership with Hype Sports Innovation to expand its broadcast technology by tapping into Hype’s network of startups, SBJ’s Joe Lemire reports.
Founded in Israel back in 2015, Hype has a portfolio of more than 250 sports technology companies and counts 100 brands, clubs and federations as partners. CBS Sports will explore AI, AR, VR and remote broadcast tools.
Symphony will develop Karate Combat’s DAO, a Web3-native decentralized autonomous organizational structure that will give its fans and athletes governance power, reports SBJ’s Joe Lemire. It is believed to be the first professional sports league to do so.
The Karate Combat app enables management decisions in the league by fans and fighters. Fans can earn $Karate tokens to vote on upcoming matches, make rule changes, decide the budget and more.
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