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• PwC foresees three main shifts in ticket gross sales, media rights, and sponsorships. 
• NFTs and digital assets will be on the heart of fan engagement and sports trade revenue streams.
• Metaverse and Web3 integration additionally holds large promise for the trade, the agency stated in a report.

NFTs have huge potential and are prone to change into “the future of digital assets in sports,” Big Four auditor PwC has said in a brand new report.

The agency’s Sports Industry Outlook 2022 report highlights non-fungible tokens as one of many prime ten tendencies that would considerably boost the sports sector.

According to PwC, the expansion in NFTs and total adoption of digital assets is a growth prone to “shape fan experience” and boost revenue alternatives.

Per the report, collectible NFT gross sales, season ticket member NFTs and digital entry tokens are prone to play a giant position in revolutionising fan engagement. But greater than that, as is with ticket gross sales, media rights and sponsorships, the fast-growing NFT house may open up new revenue streams for groups and leagues.

“For sponsors, tokenization presents a great way to align themselves with a team or league and create unique activations that build equity for both brands,” the agency famous.

Sports organisations and groups can discover collectible NFTs, transferring into tokenised tickets, workforce memorabilia and even match highlights.

These can change into key collectible NFT collection, with their sale and buying and selling an avenue that may usher in new revenue on a degree not seen earlier than. The identical idea may apply to season ticket members (STM) and digital entry tokens.

The metaverse and Web3 are additionally going to be main “shifts” in coming years, with development round these seeing “a reimagination of so much of how fans consume sports.”

As groups and organisations look to combine and profit from this expertise, PwC advises investments within the infrastructure and expertise key to its realisation. It’s additionally essential to work in the direction of authorized and tax compliance.

NFT gross sales amounted to over $17.7 billion in 2021, rising two hundredfold from a complete of about $8.5 million in 2020. Profits from reselling and shopping for additionally elevated exponentially, reaching over $5.4 billion in 2021 from $12 million a 12 months earlier.