FANZ in the Wild | Ep. IV - "Teams Grow Beyond Their Roots with FanChain"

FANZ in the Wild

In the FanChain ecosystem, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the Mints, who stamp and distribute the tokens, and the fanz, who put them to use. These are their stories.

IN THIS EPISODE

Teams Grow Beyond Their Roots with FanChain

A great franchise in a small market can never truly compete with a bad franchise in a large market, not insofar as value is concerned anyway. A Forbes report from 2016 elegantly displays the disparity in team valuations in the NBA as being an irreversible product of a team’s location.[i] Even when the Cleveland Cavaliers retain the playing right of one of the most famous people on earth they nonetheless operate in a different economic league than do the New York Knicks. But what if the Cavaliers’ footprint extended far beyond its city limits? A decentralized and immutable currency would enable them, as well as countless other mid-and-small-market teams, from the obscure corners of the American professional leagues to the far-off margins of Asian subdivision soccer (sorry, football), to cultivate, sustain and grow rewarding relationships with fans all over the world. These relationships would exist invariably, not only during the season, thereby opening the pathway to creative brand engagement on a personalized level heretofore unrealized.

As team footprints and brand awareness accelerate, so too do partnership and sponsorship opportunities. American teams have their beer sponsors while English teams have their beer sponsors. So while beer brands clamor for visibility and distribution in new markets they are consistently inhibited by loyalty barriers erected by a most ancient element: distance. Far-off fans of any team are fundamentally prevented from being touched by a team’s local sponsor because they are, simply, too far away. But when an economy that sustains a global network of fans and teams drives continuous and meaningful reward patterns the ancient paradigm which the physical world governs is overcome by a modern apparatus, to the benefit of the teams and entities that give it its life force. 

The chart[ii] above is a small but perfect example of the centralization of value in the sports world. For those not terribly familiar with the NBA, it is important to note on this chart that the New York Knicks, ranked by wins and losses, are among the five worst teams in the league over the past decade.[iii] In a world that is increasingly conscious of undue, or at least uneven, value allocation the fact that a team that doesn't win many games can nonetheless attract such a large valuation. It would appear that, in the case of the Knicks, being in New York City is reason enough to be comfortable with the franchise's outsized valuation. But this is precisely the sort of imbalance that blockchain-based ecosystems have potential to offset. 

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[i] Brautigan, Bailey. “Here’s How Every NBA Team Makes Its Money, Visualized” Forbes, March 21, 2016 https://www.forbes.com/sites/baileybrautigan/2016/03/21/where-all-that-money-comes-from-nba-team-valuations-visualized/#78f29323444f

[ii] "Worth of NBA franchise with the highest value from 2003 to 2018 (in millions U.S. dollars)" Statista https://www.statista.com/statistics/193687/highest-valued-franchise-in-the-nba-since-2000/

[iii] Pollakoff, Brett. "Every NBA team's 10-year record, ranked 30 to 1" Fox Sports, March 14, 2017 https://www.foxsports.com/nba/gallery/every-nba-teams-10-year-record-ranked-from-30-to-1-031417