Fantasy Sports
Gerard Piqué invests and becomes Sorare strategic advisor
Football superstar Gerard Piqué and ex Coca-Cola VP Emmanuel Seugé through his fund Cassius Family are investing EUR 3 million in Sorare as a seed extension. Sorare card sales volume grew by more than 1000% in 2020 with 80 clubs joining during the year including European Champions: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto, and Zenit with more Champions coming before the end of the year.
Fans no longer want to just consume football entertainment, they wish to participate in new and exciting ways. Gerard Piqué has been at the forefront of reimagining these new paths with Kosmos and now with a strategic investment in Sorare. Gerard Piqué will join Sorare’s board as a Strategic Advisor, together with existing board members Christian Miele, co-founder Nicolas Julia, and co-founder Adrien Montfort.
Gerard Piqué, Chairman of Kosmos, comments: “I see a huge potential in the sports gaming segment in a digital economy where the attention of audiences is the single most important unit of currency. I’m looking forward to helping Sorare expand their partnerships with football leagues, clubs, and players worldwide to build the best fantasy experience that exists.”
Sorare CEO Nicolas Julia added: “Gerard is not only one of the best defenders in the world but he is also an active entrepreneur and is re-defining the sports and entertainment industry. The strategic counsel and business acumen Gerard brings to our board is invaluable. I’m excited to have him join our team to unlock people’s football fandom online with Sorare.”
European Giants have joined Sorare in 2020
5 European 2020 Champions have all launched their digital cards on Sorare this year. Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto, and Zenit with more Champions coming before the end of the year. Since opening the beta in December 2019, 80 football clubs have joined Sorare from 11 countries to help create a unique and global fantasy football experience. Sorare is an opportunity for clubs and leagues to allow their fans to express their fandom with digital cards, amidst the current lack of live games as well as to expand their international brand by reaching several untapped audiences of fans. It is effectively opening up a new revenue stream for clubs, by creating a new licensing category: fantasy football licensing.
Fans want to further engage with football entertainment
While sports fans have been able to collect and trade player cards for decades, this was limited to the physical world. Sorare is on a mission to unlock people’s football fandom online. The company is creating an open world of games with digital cards, where people can express their affiliation with a club or player, build meaningful identities and relationships with it, and seize new economic opportunities around it. The Sorare cards are fully licensed, and provably scarce thanks to blockchain technology, creating a new level of trust for fans and clubs.
Fans collect digital cards of players for the same reasons they collect cards offline – status, differentiation, identity, and membership. This also offers the most direct way of investing in the upside of a sports player. Sorare’s current total addressable market is at the intersection of fantasy football and sports cards and memorabilia that is respectively estimated at $5.4B and $18.6B globally. After having acquired more than 50,000 users in 2020, Sorare is expecting to see these numbers more than triple next year.
The EFL, in partnership with Genius Sports, has officially launched “Fantasy EFL,” the League’s first-ever 72-club fantasy football game to involve all Member Clubs across the three Sky Bet EFL divisions.
First teased at the 2023/24 Sky Bet EFL Play-Off Finals, Fantasy EFL will be an innovative platform to unify fans of EFL Clubs, fantasy football players, plus the wider football community to play and engage with almost 2000 EFL first-team players, more than 1600 Sky Bet EFL fixtures and all 72 Clubs during the twists and turns of a season.
Available on web, and as a brand-new app for iOS and Android users, Fantasy EFL is free to play and allows participants to become Managers every gameweek of the Sky Bet EFL.
EFL Chief Executive Trevor Birch said: “We’re very excited to bring the EFL’s first fantasy football game to life as a central product that engages not only with supporters of all 72 EFL Clubs, but also the wider football audience. We’ve interrogated research into what fans would want out of an EFL fantasy football game and been strategic on providing a product that isn’t just a copy of what is already in the market.
“Fantasy EFL is a premium product that enhances the EFL brand and opens further opportunities with our broadcasters and commercial partners. Alongside Genius Sports, Fantasy EFL appeals to both the avid and casual fan and will expand the rising interest in the Sky Bet EFL, our Clubs and their players beyond fans who attend matches and those who watch along at home.”
Genius Sports Chief Partnerships Officer, Steven Burton, said: “Fantasy EFL is unique, interactive, and fun and Genius Sports is delighted to deliver this exciting new game for the EFL and its Member Clubs.
“This new game will test fans’ knowledge of both teams and individual players while providing them with a platform to compete with their friends and family every week.”
The post EFL and Genius Sports Launch First-ever 72-club Fantasy Football Game appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
WagerWire, a sports gaming marketplace technology company serving sportsbooks and fantasy operators, announced that buying and selling is now live in their app, available in the iOS and Google Play stores. This marks the first time that fantasy players can legally buy and sell daily fantasy Pick’em entries with the tap of a button.
WagerWire users are now able to buy and sell RealTime Fantasy Sports entries on the app, with more fantasy operators to be added for trading soon. WagerWire announced their integration with RealTime Fantasy in January 2024, allowing users to sell their Pick’em lineups while in progress, including during the actual game, directly on the RTFS platform. During the NFL playoffs, the marketplace saw 12% of all DFS Pick’em lineups sell on the secondary market.
“This is a paradigm shifting moment for fantasy. This launch represents a way to bring more ownership and control over their entries. For the first time, there is a way to cash in on your lineups even if they go on to lose – by selling it to a friend or on the open market. The excitement is palpable,” said WagerWire Co-Founder and CEO Zach Doctor.
The newly launched fantasy marketplace is the latest addition to the growing technology portfolio of WagerWire’s parent company Wire Industries Inc. Their app already hosts an array of marketplace tools for both sports betting and fantasy including stat tracking, account syncing, bet value graph builders and calculator, and social features that allow users to follow how their friends, influencers, or sharps are playing.
“I’ve been playing fantasy for years, but being able to sell my DFS lineups is game-changing. I’m also loving being able to buy and sell in-game and see the progress of my picks with live price suggestions. The RT marketplace in the WagerWire app takes an already great and easy-to-use experience to the next level,” said Braiden Payne, RealTime Fantasy Sports veteran user.
WagerWire was recently shortlisted for two awards at SBC North America – Rising Star of the Year and Affiliate of the Year, in addition to EGR’s Rising Star of the Year and Hashtag Sport’s Best X Presence award.
Fantasy sports gaming company GameOn has announced that its fantasy app, GameOn Live Fantasy, is set to launch ahead of the start of the UEFA European Football Championship 2024 (Euro 2024) on 14 June. This marks a significant milestone in bringing fans closer to their favourite athletes, teams, and leagues through immersive fantasy sports experiences.
GameOn Live Fantasy will initially launch in beta format. The beta period will be used to gather community feedback and refine the product before the full launch. A massive prize pool worth over $200,000 will be up for grabs, including $GAME tokens, VIP experiences, signed merchandise and game tickets.
GameOn Live Fantasy is powered by the $GAME token, which recently launched on KuCoin, Gate and MEXC in collaboration with Sportsology.
Post-beta, GameOn Live Fantasy is scheduled to fully launch for the upcoming LALIGA season in August. This will include player avatar packs that are scheduled for July, allowing fans to own, trade and play with digital representations of their favourite athletes. Player avatars not only enhance the gaming experience but also boost points during matches, with higher rarities providing better rewards. Fans will also use $GAME to buy player avatar packs, power up their players, redeem exclusive rewards and vote on new products and features.
“GameOn Live Fantasy will change the way we play, headlined by true asset ownership, unified rewards, and interoperability between leagues. Powered by $GAME, GameOn is built on web3 in a context fans are familiar with. We’re leveling up fantasy sports while onboarding the masses to blockchain,” Matt Bailey, CEO at GameOn, said.
The post GameOn Live Fantasy Set to Launch for Euro 2024, Powered by the $GAME Token appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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