The chief executive of the Fan-Controlled Football League, a new real-world league where fans call the shots, believes blockchain will revolutionize sports.

In a guest post on Hashtag Sports, FCFL CEO Sohrob Farudi said blockchain (which is used by the FCFL) will flourish with fantasy and legalized sports gambling, and will modernize the market for sports memorabilia and event ticketing.

For fantasy and gambling, Farudi said blockchain will open up the world of professional sports to the “wisdom of the crowd,” or a sort-of fan-based decision making that could further engage fans and improve the game. This is how the FCFL has adopted blockchain: it uses the Ethereum blockchain to offer users FAN Tokens, which they can accumulate in a variety of ways and use to make play-calling and personnel decisions about the 18-player rosters. The open-sourced nature of blockchain has made tracking voting weights easier and has, in turn, increased league transparency and accountability.

“If we are to reach a new level of sports fan engagement through the democratization of strategic decisions, to open up the world of professional sports to the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ (and reap the financial benefits along the way), it is absolutely crucial that all parties involved remove any doubt from that process,” said Farudi. “Blockchain technology, wherein all votes are essentially tied to previous votes on a publicly available ledger, is the simplest form of transparency that exists in the world today. With sufficient decentralization, it is a hack-proof system.”

This, he said, will come into play in the world of fantasy and gambling. He believes blockchain will not only make the system more transparent and efficient, but also ensure the integrity of sports and sports betting, where real money and careers are on the line.

“If the democratization of strategic decisions is to truly succeed, especially with the dawn of a new era of legalized sports gambling (where all this new money will bring with it an enhanced level of scrutiny), simple voting mechanisms will not suffice,” he said. “There are too many careers at stake: too many athletes who will rely on the outcomes of fan voting for their livelihood, too many corporations engrossed in the coming multibillion dollar industry. Basic polling on a website or app is not enough. Transparency will become the most influential of all commodities. There can be no room for ambiguity.”

For sports memorabilia, Farudi said blockchain will help put an official and verifiable digital stamp on every piece of equipment, from jerseys and helmets to a signed ball, which will ensure that nothing has been tampered with or faked. This same kind of tracking system could benefit ticketing and help reduce fraud, something that leagues and teams are already attempting to counter with mobile ticketing.

“Counterfeit has long been a thorn in the event industry, as has a murky resale market. Blockchain protocols could directly tie a seat in an arena to the initial purchaser, creating a unique ticket ID and helping sports franchises and stadiums more clearly understand their customer,” he said. “Blockchain is about to revolutionize these industries—ticketing and memorabilia—through a granularly-tracked process of procurement and distribution.”

SportTechie Takeaway

Blockchain is no longer just a buzzword. The technology is here to stay and it’s changing sports. We’re already starting to see blockchain and cryptocurrency become further entrenched in professional sporting leagues, teams, and sports tech startups. Earlier this week, the NFL Players Association scooped up a minority stake in SportsCastr, which uses blockchain and its Fanchain token to fuel a streaming service and reward NFL players for producing content. The Dallas Mavericks plan to accept cryptocurrency for tickets and merchandise next season, beginning with CyberMiles Tokens, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. Some blockchain-based fantasy sports sites are also attempting to take advantage of the distributed ledger to improve wagering.