What is FanCraze?
Well, the website says they’re building the metaverse for cricket. Seems grand for sure. But in simple terms, they’re trying to build a platform where cricket fans can interact and engage better
So how do fans interact right now?
Being a bit of a sports fan myself and having seen some real lunatic friends in this space, I can give some context on what sort of things excite us:
Highlights. We’re a very nostalgic group of people. Look at the views ICC’s channel fetches on YT or just take all the Messi free-kick compilations.
Betting. Who doesn’t love predicting the future with emotional bias and then being right about it too :) It’s addictive. Dream11’s success is proof, Fantasy Premier League has been there for a while.
Admit it or not, we’re cult-like. We’re Loyal and very binary. We’re either all Messi or all Ronaldo. We’re either CSK fans or MI fans. And the reason for this behavior is that most of us have chosen our sides from very early on (basically when we were introduced to TV and gaming). We worship our stars, support our teams from the 8-9th grade. This strong sense of attachment makes us value collectibles, overpriced ‘original’ team jerseys
The best collectibles right now are officially licensed merchandise like autographed shoes, trading cards, etc. The only value a collectible derives is from its authenticity, and the proof of owning it gives you the required status in your group.
Currently, this industry is fragmented both in terms of fan experience and monetization across stakeholders.
From an experience perspective, since most collectibles are physical, things getting lost is a common problem + the material of merchandise can wear off too. Fans frequently get scammed with fake collectibles on reseller markets as well. From a monetization standpoint, it’s fairly straightforward, who owns the content should own the business. However, it's the licensee marketplaces that control this business right now. Why? Because they control the data of who bought what. The trading cards market is already >$10 Bn and exploded further during the pandemic, physical cards were being sold for millions. And when the stakes are this high, it only makes sense for all stakeholders to have visibility and ownership of transactional data of this marketplace.
What’s changing?
We have some new technology and it can probably fix a bit of the above. A blockchain and some NFTs. Yup yup, the building blocks to another jargon: web3
So instead of a traditional database, a blockchain is where we can store the transactions (who bought what). And not only the licensee but every stakeholder (the copyright owner, the fan) can now read or write on this decentralized DB via some consensus mechanism. (What these mechanisms are, how is governance of the blockchain quantified, etc. are separate discussions).
NFTs here are the ‘better’ replacements of the physical collectibles. Just think of it this way, instead of giving you a physical limited edition MS Dhoni card with an ICC stamp, I just take a picture of that card and store it on this database mapped with your name.
Now you can never lose it (you can lose your password tho)
You don’t have to physically take it with you for proof of ownership
It’s authentic since this database is a blockchain approved by ICC (the stamp from a physical card can wear off)
Transacting high-value collectibles p2p is also safer (since the asset is digital, transfers are online, you don’t need to depend on a middleman/reseller for quality assurance and delivery of the high-value collectible)
So again, what is FanCraze?
FanCraze essentially is what we’ve discussed till now, they’re using web3 technology to solve for gaps in expressing Fandom. Right now, It’s a marketplace of digital collectibles (as NFTs) for cricket fans built on top of the blockchain.
The first edition of the NFTs they’ve released are 75 ICC licensed video highlights from the 2015 and 2019 Cricket World Cup. Yes anyone can screen record these videos and share, but no one can replicate the fact (the data point on the blockchain) that the one released by ICC was owned by you. The video is just metadata, just like physical cards are not valuable because of their graphic design. And what better metadata than highlights from the World Cup with some raging music. A great hook for nostalgic sports fans :)
Also, it’s not just the uniqueness and scarcity of the collectible that values it. Of course, collectibles are very much a status game but since the blockchain establishes concrete authenticity, these collectibles can be linked with valuable utilities as well. (Proxy for access passes, tickets, discount coupons, etc.)
What if all owners of a Rohit Sharma NFT get to participate in a raffle to actually meet him?
What if everyone who owns the Dhoni winning six NFT gets a free ICC-sponsored ticket to the next world cup final? (physical world utilities)
If you own a player’s NFT, you can always have him in your Dream11 fantasy team for free (metaverse utilities)
You can legally sell your OG Fantasy team as an NFT to a buyer rather than sharing account password and taking money via Paytm
All these use cases can now be unlocked efficiently via new technology. Incentives can be aligned better across players, fans, and other stakeholders. And that’s where FanCraze seems to be headed. Gamifying fan engagement in cricket, across the digital and physical worlds. NBA has already cracked this with the TopShots platform. LaLiga and NFL are coming out with their licensed NFT platforms as well.
The problems seem real, the solution looks viable, the trend is here to stay.
The whole NFT ecosystem is very euphoric right now imo. Most projects are booming and people are entering mostly to make a quick buck.
The real value unlock could be done by coupling NFTs with utilities and we are yet to see any good NFTs of that kind. Collectibles are a craze of the bull market and may die eventually.