The Tokenization Playbook for the Sports Industry

A guide to understanding how Tokenization and Blockchain can be leveraged in the world of professional sports

Are you working in the sports industry and curious about tokenization and blockchain? Then you made it to the right place. Whether you are running or working for a sports club, managing or representing (or are yourself) a professional athlete, or working for a professional league, this guide is for you.

During the last few years, I mainly worked in the blockchain space. Early this year, I started to focus on tokenization in professional sports (and launched Liquiditeam with a few great people). With this Tokenization Playbook for the Sports Industry, I hope to condense our learnings into a compact, useful resource.

It was especially important to me to make sure it is accessible to all professionals in the sports industry, regardless of their background. Tokenization is an interdisciplinary domain. Some of the plays in here would traditionally be regarded as marketing, some as IT, and others as finance projects. I tried to keep technical lingo at a minimum so that people from all traits can follow.

The main question this publication sets out to answer is:

How can the sports business leverage the newly emerging, socio-economic technology called tokenization in order to achieve various strategic goals?

To answer this question, I compiled the different strategic options that the various actors in the sports business — clubs, athletes, leagues — have at their disposal. The resulting playbook guides you through the process of analyzing and evaluating the various moves you can choose from, thanks to the advent of tokenization.

In case that the terms tokenization and blockchain confuse you, I recommend that you first read my article on tokenization in professional sports in which I introduce the subject.

And if you want to broaden your general understanding, Shermin Voshmgir, the director of the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at WU Vienna, has you covered with the introduction of her new book.

Now, without further ado, let’s open the first page of the playbook.