TL;DR Breakdown
• Every day, more football clubs want to enter the crypto world and adopt cryptocurrency.
• The fans are divided, between those who see it as novel and those who see it as superficial participation.
An increasing number of major soccer clubs are launching into cryptocurrencies, allowing fans to vote on minor decisions. This is happening as the sport faces a drop in earnings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fans are divided; some followers see the proposal as a novel way to interact with their favorite teams and help in decision-making, even if it is all about insignificant decisions, such as the images used on social networks or the song produced in matches after scoring a goal.
Other followers view tokens as a shallow stake that only adds to the already progressive costs of following their teams.
Among the clubs that have launched tokens in recent months are AC Milan of Italy and English Premier League champion Manchester City. The Spanish team, which tied its first match at the European Championship on Monday, plans to launch a similar project. But Argentina, which also started its Copa America campaign that same day, launched its tokens last week.
Soccer clubs want to embrace cryptocurrency
Fan tokens can be traded on exchanges like another cryptocurrency and have attracted the attention of different investors and retail traders. Prices are prone to sudden swings and may also connect to performance in the field.
In recent weeks, the tokens of the most popular and important clubs have lost almost two-thirds or more of their value. This reflects volatile swings much like those seen in the crypto sector.
Football Supporters’ Association President Malcolm Clarke, who represents the fans of Wales and England, says that football clubs are only trying to make money by approving that fans can have a say on some topics of interest and how clubs are managed. He also added that clubs only want to get extra money from fans by making up unimportant online engagement polls.
Fan tokens have gained appeal for clubs in these times of revenue contraction from the pandemic. This is because the games have had to be played without an audience; sales in the top 20 revenue-generating clubs in Europe dropped 12% in 2020.
Executives from these teams and other larger clubs have claimed that fan tokens have been able to help drive accountability to fans around the world. This cryptocurrency also provides access to contests and promotions.
Despite this split over cryptocurrency, some sports fans accept the tokens because they feel more involved with their teams. A retail manager named Giuseppe Bognanni, a fan of Juventus, has commented that it is good that the decision you voted for is the one you see in the match.
