MMA has long been one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, and it is now poised to receive even more of a boost in the coming weeks and months. A team of MMA fans and marketing experts have created a fan platform that is aimed at increasing fan engagement, as well as the popularity of the sport, and blockchain technology is heavily involved in this project.
The creation of this platform is even more important in the current COVID-19 era, where events were disrupted all over the world, and so being able to connect with fans at home became even more important than before. Nearly every sport has gone online in some form during this pandemic, and MMA is not far behind, with this platform taking quite an innovative approach to this opportunity. It is being touted as the ‘IMDB’ of MMA – those who are movie fans will instantly recognize IMDB as the online movie database where information about virtually every movie, actor, director and even technician is available. IMDB has become the one-stop destination for anyone looking for news and information on movies all over the world, and this upcoming platform will aim to fulfil the same role for MMA online. It will also allow for direct engagement between fighters and fans, with fans being able to send tips and buy branded merchandise on the platform, which will help fighters earn more money as well. This is important, since most MMA stars, other than the biggest ones such as Connor McGregor, do not earn too much at the moment, so this will come as a handy boost to their earning potential.
Blockchain technology is also being used elsewhere in the sports industry in a similar manner. The concept of ‘fan tokens’ is becoming quite popular, where various sports teams and franchises have signed up with fan token providers. These tokens allow fans access to exclusive merchandise, the ability to vote on certain decisions, and give them bragging rights as the ‘ultimate’ fan of their team. They are also a useful revenue stream for those teams, and thus it is no surprise that many sports teams across the world are rolling such programs out. Blockchain is also being used in other parts of the entertainment industry, most notably in online gambling, where dogecoin gambling and other cryptocurrency-based betting options are becoming more and more prevalent.
This upcoming MMA fan platform will also go a long way towards increasing the visibility of young and new MMA fighters, which will, in turn, help them negotiate better contracts and be able to participate in more fights early on in their careers. There are many potential scenarios for fighters to be able to earn revenue from this platform, even when they are not in the cage. Fans could pay fighters to create customized training programs for them, for example, or there could be crowdfunding projects to have certain athletes fight against each other. The platform will also allow for pay-per-view access to events, through its own token, while also giving fans discounts and exclusive access to events and merchandise.
Platforms such as this one look like being the future of sports in terms of their relationship with fans. There are more than enough passionate fans for sports all over the world who would be willing to pay reasonable money for the level of access and special benefits that these platforms can offer.
There is a lot of potential for growth here, and it will be interesting to see which sports and teams are able to truly maximize this potential and provide fans with experiences and benefits that they would be willing to consistently pay for through fan tokens and other methods on these platforms.
