Updated:07/14/2021 00:36h
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“The more Atlético de Madrid tokens you get, the more likely you are to get exclusive prizes” is one of the phrases that can be read in the guts of the mattress team’s website. They are sold for two euros a unit, they are also offered by teams of the stature of Barcelona, AC Milan or Juventus and allow the fans to be part of the day-to-day life of their team and in their decisions, such as which mural will decorate the dressing room on match day or which player will appear on social media next week. There are also athletes, such as the Spanish tennis player David Vega, who are ‘tokenized’ to increase their popularity, to create a digital version of themselves in which their fans can invest and be part of their sporting destiny. Tokens and other types of cryptocurrencies are the latest entity to infiltrate professional sports, without much noise but laying the groundwork for a movement that “is unstoppable.” The identity and economic crisis of many sports teams and professionals around the world has caused the search for new ways to obtain income, liquidity and popularity, and it is this digital financial asset is one of the answers to try to fill the hole.
A cryptocurrency is a digital currency, an algorithm that over time has become an alternative to traditional money. Anyone can create, buy or sell them but it is its popularity, that is, if it is used, which determines the fluctuations in its value in most cases. In the words of several economists, this is an anarchic dream come true: decentralized money and wholly owned by users. «It is a new world, a technological, financial and social phenomenon. No matter how much governments insist on stopping it, it will be successful because it is decentralized, eliminates intermediaries and gives value to the citizen ”, Miguel Caballero, CEO of the Tutellus company, explains to ABC. Agrees with him Máximo Cermelli, professor at the business school of the University of Deusto. Cryptocurrencies are booming. It is the anarchic dream of economists. It’s like the wikipedia of currencies.
In the field of sports, cryptocurrencies have produced two particularly striking phenomena. The tokenization of athletes and the tokens issued by clubs for fans to buy. The first is a financial operation that allows athletes to transform their figure or salary into tokens and ‘put themselves’ up for sale. The player obtains instant liquidity (if he were to collect his salary in a traditional way he would have to wait longer) and the fan can get percentage parts of this amount, be a ‘participant’ in the player’s career and have an asset that he could later sell. «The club also benefits because it receives promotion. In these cases, the value of the tokens does not fluctuate strongly, ”says Caballero. The second, on the other hand, does not have much economic repercussion but it does have a social impact. «Yes, they can contribute to the fan loyaltyIt’s a marketing phenomenon and they don’t consistently earn income, but it brings their followers closer together in a more personal way.
The truth is that tokens are becoming more and more widespread in sport with each passing day. The Sacraments Kings of the NBA will begin to pay their employees and players, in the percentage they want, in cryptocurrencies and Southampton of the Premier League will do the same with the premiums of their athletes. Meanwhile, many large European clubs, such as the PSG or Juventus are already listed in the main cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. «The big teams, who live a delicate moment in the economic thing, are looking for new forms of income. As they continue to be companies and societies with a great economic muscle, participating in these exchanges does not imply a great risk and many possible benefits, ”says Cermelli.
United States, one step ahead
As in many areas of sport, the United States is one step ahead, and cryptocurrencies are no exception. Trevor Lawrence, the last number 1 in the NFL draft, will collect its share of its first sponsorship in cryptocurrencies (with a company that is dedicated to this field precisely) and the company EPTX, also dedicated to this type of digital currency, has recently bought the rights from the NBA’s Miami Heat stadium for the next 19 seasons in exchange for 112.5 million euros. “This is also spreading to other fields, such as betting. In many US states, gambling is illegal and many houses of this nature that work with cryptocurrencies are already beginning to emerge. These, more difficult to track than traditional money, allow users to gamble even if it is not allowed and remain anonymous, “explains Juan Pedro Asencio, a professor at the University of La Rioja based in Miami.
But surely, the most striking case is that of Russell Okung. Last season, the American football player, a member of the Carolina Panthers, was the first in the NFL to convert part of his salary bill (5 million euros) into bitcoins, another type of cryptocurrency, for his fans to buy. and were first-hand witnesses of his sports career. The play, in his case, has been excellent, since his earnings with this initiative have risen to 12 million dollars, a growth of 223%. «The tokens are related to the reputation, to the social value of the athlete or the club that issues them. If you are successful, the model thrives, but an injury or an off-sport problem can be catastrophic, ”concludes Cermelli.
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