Your sports heroes no longer just give away autographs. Wout van Aert is auctioning his most impressive victories, Romelu Lukaku the moments that determined his career. How about that? An introduction to the phenomenon of the NFT – soon an indispensable part of the sports world?
“Something special! My three biggest wins will be sold as NFTs.”
Don’t worry if you heard the thunder in Cologne at the above tweet from Wout van Aert – we also saw a lot of frowning eyebrows in our editorial office.
Therefore the essence first. What is an NFT?
A “Non-Fungible Token” can be seen as a digital certificate to prove that something is owned by you. It arose to assign a certain value to online creations.
In the case of Wout van Aert, an animated “work of art” was thus created of his triumph in the Strade Bianche, the heroic victory on Mont Ventoux and the legendary sprint in Paris.
Whoever has the highest bid on Tuesday – currently several hundred euros – will receive the exclusive rights to the digital work. Together with a personalized video from Van Aert.
Pure art
Whoever reads it all for the first time, almost always reacts the same.
What the hell are you doing with it?
After all, unlike a Wout van Aert shirt, you don’t have anything tangible in your hands. Or you already have to display it in a digital framework.
“You can, however, compare it to a painting,” says Ruud Dankers of Momentible, the platform on which the Van Aert works are auctioned.
“Only this is digital. And in these times people attach great importance to what they own there. Look, for us Wout is an artist. And his victory on the Mont Ventoux, for example, is pure art. We have made a work of it in his name. .”
The three digital creations by Wout van Aert that will soon be auctioned.
It all sounds nice. But of course Van Aert and Jumbo-Visma do not launch the NFTs (only) for the artistic value. Today, a lot of money is paid for digital works.
For example, Lionel Messi also solved a series of NFTs a few months ago, designed by a well-known digital designer. After one day, the sale had already raised almost 3 million euros. The most unique work from the collection even sold for around 1 million euros.
Such.
It probably won’t run that fast for Van Aert. Momentible recently sold two NFTs belonging to marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge for $70,000.
“It would be nice to surpass,” it sounds.
And what will it mean for Van Aert and Jumbo-Visma? “They get a percentage of the original sale,” Dankers said. “Later they receive royalties. Van Aert and Jumbo-Visma receive 10 percent on every resale.”
“The philosophy behind it comes from the shortcomings of the art world. Vincent van Gogh died a poor man, at NFTs the artist still earns something from the later sale of his work.”
Lionel Messi’s four digital works: the most expensive (far right) yielded 1 million.
$387,000 for LeBron James dunk
The concept is relatively new in the cycling world. Except for Mark Cavendish and Bahrain Victorious, few ventured into the NFT.
In other sports, the phenomenon is already more established and seem to be here to stay.
The so-called “gamified NFTs” in particular have seen their popularity grow exponentially over the past year. An exchange or game concept has been built around these unique digital products.
The American basketball league NBA, for example, breathed new life into the traditional success formula of trading tickets by starting with a digital variant. In partnership with Top Shot, video highlights from matches are now traded as unique NFTs.
After 8 months, the platform had more than 1 million users. One of them had $387,000 to spare for a LeBron James dunk.
In football, all eyes are on the French Sorare, which closed deals with almost all major teams and competitions – including our Jupiler Pro League and Red Devils.
Players can collect digital cards from soccer players and build a team (of 5) with them. Based on their performance in the real football world, you score points, which you can use to win cash prizes or new tickets in various competitions. So comparable to a fantasy football game.
To make the hype clear once again: yesterday, Cristiano Ronaldo’s unique ticket exchanged owner for 400,000 euros. An absolute (and insane) record.
Criticism
Opinions on NFTs vary as much as the amounts paid for them.
There is a remarkable amount of criticism in the reactions to Wout van Aert’s Twitter message. From the argument that NFTs have a huge impact on the environment to the statement that they are merely a means of making money.
Cycling podcast maker Benji Naesen, who is familiar with NFTs, was critical in a few tweets, among others. “It feels like something done for financial interests,” he says. It is not an everyday product in a traditional world such as that of cycling. Many cycling fans would not know what they buy and benefit from a signed shirt.”
“Unlike “gamified NFTs”, there is no utility either,” Naesen continues. “A complete system has been devised at the NBA, with a marketplace and collection method. That is not yet available in cycling.”
Perhaps the hype of NFTs will soon be over and the work will be barely worth anything.
Steven Rombaut, economics expert at VRT NWS, also questions the size of the sales market. “Fans may buy it as a collector’s item. Many others may want to trade it again later for more money, but there’s no guarantee that the value will increase. Maybe the hype of NFTs will soon be over and it’s barely worth anything But of course nobody knows that.”
And if it does happen, you will of course still have a unique memory of a historic achievement by Wout van Aert.
View one of Wout van Aert’s NFTs below
