After months of negotiations, England’s highest Football league system has finally partnered with a new NFT company. The English Premier League has announced that it has joined hands with a French Company called Sorare.
The deal would allow Sorare’s users to access league specific player cards and compete with each other. This deal extends to all the 20 clubs associated with the English League.
Negotiations
The League wanted to engage in the NFT space for a long time. However, a suitable NFT company that could amplify and grow the Sports as envisioned by the EPL wasn’t easy to find.
Before the deal with Sorare, EPL was engaged in talks with another company called ConsenSys. However the agreement couldn’t be substantiated.
Since October 22, Sorare and the Premier League have been in talks about a NFT partnership. However, now the deal has been finalised.
The deal would be valid for a period of 4 years. There hasn’t been any disclosure about the monetary side of this deal. But, speculations range from $30 million an year to $590 million for the complete duration of the agreement.
Sorare
Sorare is a market leading sports fantasy firm. The company has over half a million users and in excess of $200 million in yearly revenues.
The company has been bolstered by a $680 million investment by SoftBank! It has also signed deals with the likes of Spain’s La Liga and the NFL. This must have attracted the EPL as well.
However, the company was also met with several questions on its business model and whether it should be given a pool betting licence. However, after months of discussions, the deal went through.
The company is going to release 1,111 EPL cards. Each of these cards belong to a player and the price of each card fluctuates from £1 to £1,000.
Financial Fair play
Along with this a provision of ‘financial fair play’ has also been introduced.It is a provision that protects a non-NFT holding players from those who have cards.
Games in Sorare are played by selecting a team of 5, each. The real life performance of these players also determine the fate of the user that has included those players in their teams. However, people with NFTs would have a fair advantage as they would have all 5 best players.
Hence, the provision of Financial Fair Play bars anyone from having an all star 5 membered team.
NFT market
Although the coming together of EPL and Sorare is welcome news for the Industry, the health of the industry itself is not good. The NFT and the crypto market that was on a boom until a few years ago after which it has shattered.
From a $2.79 billion market, the NFT space has dwindled to just a little over half a million dollars in 2022. The industry witnessed a shrinkage of 76%!
The bankruptcy of major exchange FTX and the Global economic slowdown are one of the major reasons for this fall. NFTs were introduced with a huge enthusiasm and hope.
The lockdowns and the pandemic gave wind to the fire of NFT. NFTs and Cryptocurrencies were the most discussed items on the internet. However, the rising cost of living and inflation has dissuaded the regular crypto investors and channelised their investments into more stable arenas.
However, sports based fantasy games are on the rise and they also present a prominent opportunity to revive the NFL industry.
Could Sorare’s agreement with the EPL be a shining light on the falling crypto industry? What do you think, answer us in the comments.
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