4 billion football fans, fan tokens, and one-directional fan engagement?!

⚽ Although technology has revolutionized the viewing experience and commercialized football over the past decade+, the majority of fan engagement has remained one-directional (passing through turnstiles, watching on TV, streaming on handsets etc...)

💎 Recent blockchain-based fan token projects proport to connect worldwide fans to clubs in ways that have never been done before. Yet fan tokens are hotly debated, and the extent to which they actually foster genuine multi-directional engagement and voice / ownership for fans worldwide is questioned.

🧐 The skeptics call out clubs for being opportunistic, signing up to a cash-grab opportunity in exchange for handing over frivolous decisions, such as deciding which song is played in the stadium on matchday. Why wouldn´t heads of revenue with short-term budget targets sign up to this?! (That said, only fans themselves can judge the value of their token or interaction with their club, and are we asking them...?!)

🌐 We´ve definitely not seen the best version of genuine fan engagement yet. But it´s coming.

👉 I´m optimistic about these early innovations because they throw into light critical issues that sport must grapple with in the coming years, such as how to stay relevant in an era that will be defined by rich community experiences, and how to meet the needs of the socially conscious, shrewd consumers of tomorrow.

#technology #community #football #fanengagement #fantokens