🏆 10 ways Blockchain will disrupt the Olympics - Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028
Blockchain is changing the world!! Let's explore how it can transform the Olympic experience from ticketing to fan tokens to sponsorships
Olympics is the world’s foremost sporting event, with top athletes from more than 200 nations going head to head to showcase their athletic skills. The “best of the best” pushing the limits to bring glory for themselves and the nations they represent. While the event may have started off as a competition of human strength, will & endurance, they are now as much a Technological marvel of what is possible.
🏋️♀️2021 Tokyo Olympics - New Technology used
In the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, from wearables to 3D printed shoes & AI-powered coaching, athletes used technology to help get closer to winning the coveted gold medal in their respective events. Sports technology that monitors technique and apparel to improve performance is an important part of an elite athlete’s preparations. But critics say this can equate to “technological doping” and has worsened the inequality between well-funded teams and those from developing nations. Some of the new capabilities that were showcased to the viewers this year included:
Biometric data: An example of this was the heart rate sensor & four cameras just 4 feet from the archer’s face. Viewers got to see on-screen graphics showing how the athlete’s heartbeats change and highlight any adrenaline rushes.
Panoramic coverage: “A myriad of high-speed 4K cameras” enabled a totally new way to get up close to all the action
3D athlete tracking: Viewers got real-time insights and overlay visualizations during the sprint & swimming events using AI & computer vision
Cooler clothing: Products sensed body temperature and dispersed heat from the wearer’s skin through a sophisticated device.
Olympic robots: Robot mascots, Miraitowa and Someity were original planned to greet visitors but eventually were used to help participants. Also, field events used robots for throwing events with automatic driving functions to self-navigate and retrieve items such as javelins or hammers.
🏅So can Blockchain (Crypto) radically change the Olympics in 2024 or 2028?
This is a rhetorical question😅. Of course, the answer is yes!! While most of the focus of cryptocurrencies has been on Bitcoin and the volatility around it, most people have not looked at the underlying benefits Blockchain and other Community tokens are bringing to this space. Let’s extrapolate how these emerging trends can play out over the next 4 to 8 years.
A quick refresher on Blockchain: A blockchain allows two individuals who don’t know each other to exchange value or information without the need for a trusted third party. This opens up a range of possibilities where traditionally, we have needed trusted intermediaries to drive consistency. On the Blockchain, all authenticated information is saved “on-chain” and made available to participants in a secure format. In the sports industry, blockchain could be used to:
Facilitate mass coordination between stakeholders through decentralization
Reduce costs by removing third parties
Build trust between stakeholders
Secure data and make them transparent
10 Ways Blockchain will change the Olympics?
While there are various other technological advances in the space of Augmented Reality, 5G Networks, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learnings, this article focuses primarily on use cases around blockchain and what they can enable.
1. Crypto Sponsorships
Not all teams have the financial support needed from their governing bodies to get Olympic-level training, equipment, or paying for travel expenses. Cryptocurrencies provide an easy way for teams to secure private sponsorship from around the world to fund these activities (With the lowest transfer fee).
As an example in 2014, the Jamaican team had qualified for the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2002. The two-man sled was piloted by Winston Watt, a 46-year-old Jamaican-American who also competed in 2002, with Marvin Dixon as the brakeman. But Watt revealed that, even after putting his own money up to fly the team to his training session, there wasn't enough money to send the two to Russia. As a result, he turned to donations, launching a PayPal account to pay for the estimated $40,000. The team raised $25,000 in Dogecoin to pay for the shortfall.
2. Tokenizing Aspiring Athletes
When amateur & young professional athletes start off their careers, in many countries, they don’t have the financial support needed from the state to help them train and prepare for the major sporting events (including the Olympics). Most of them end up dropping off from the sport or not performing at their maximum potential due to the lack of financial support.
Tokenizing amateur athletes seeking funding to launch their careers still has a long way to go before it can go mainstream. However, if the kinks can be ironed out, it is truly an amazing proposition for both the athlete and the investor backing them. Platforms that allow investors to first view an athlete’s performance tape & credentials. They can then buy tokens of the athlete to fund their current requirements for a promise of a future cut of the athlete’s earnings. Parties are looking to level crypto tokens to implement these contracts. To prevent exploitation there are ethical and logistical questions that still need to be dealt with, but this does provide an opportunity to bridge the economic divide that technologically advanced participants have over other athletes.
Growing adoption in this is also seen with Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi's transfer to French club Paris St Germain which included a payment in cryptocurrency fan tokens
3. Smart Ticketing system
Ticketing has 2 key problems - Counterfeiting & Ticket scalping
Counterfeiting is the sale of fake tickets that look like the original but don’t get you entry into the event. By the time the purchaser notices the counterfeit, it is already too late. They lose money and the irreplaceable opportunity of viewing the sporting event
Ticket scalping is the practice of buying tickets to an event for the purpose of reselling them at higher prices.
3.1 Counterfeiting
As tickets are an “Asset”, Blockchain technology is ideally suited to help manage the end-to-end lifecycle of this process in a transparent (clear ownership & authenticity) and efficient way. If you are a fan who has missed out on the purchase of a ticket for a major sporting event, you may be tempted into an impulse buy of the ticket from a vendor outside the stadium, but are you really sure of the authenticity? Smart ticket platforms trace the chain custody for tickets (from the organizer to the final purchaser). With this available publically, the fans would have a way to ensure they don’t get to miss the event due to a phony ticket. These records are immutable and document each exchange, so users would be able to trace the ticket back to the original seller before parting with their hard-earned money.
3.2 Ticket resale & Scalping
Leveraging NFTs on blockchain to mint tickets allows the organizers to keep track of the tickets even after they are sold. All tickets are securely linked to the purchaser, and these transactions are recorded onto the blockchain. Any further sale or transaction of the tickets will also be listed on the blockchain. This would allow the organizers to monitor purchasers who are mass purchasing and reselling tickets, fraudulent transactions etc.
NFTs can provide additional revenue streams for the organizers in the form of transactional fees - for the tickets used as collectibles. Unlike the physical ticket market, blockchain-based digital tickets would be easier to authenticate. They can continue to earn a small fee (as part of the NFT) for the organizers every time the ticket is resold. If this fee is a % of the value of the sale price of the ticket it ensures the organisers get a share of creating this truly memorable experience.
4. Decentralizing Fantasy Sports Participation, Payments
Fantasy Sports is a type of game played online, where participants assemble imaginary or virtual teams composed of proxies of real players of a professional sport. Their performance & skills in the real world would determine how the fantasy team performs. This is a multi-billion dollar industry with teams & players being traded for top $$$. And when there are such large sums of money at stake, Decentralized trust powered by Blockchain can definitely play a big part. Blockchain help provide the clear basis of ownership, transfer of rights & associated payments in an externally auditable, immutable & transparent way.
5. Recording and Sharing Performance Data Securely
50 to 100 years back, only the performance data of the athlete in the event was recorded for official purposes - track & field run time, javelin throw distance, etc. That has completely changed now as more data is being produced via sensors & biometric devices - wind speed, temperature, individuals heart rate, angle of throw, on and on. Teams are capturing this data to create better models to eke out improved performance for their athletes. Not all teams have the financial & technological muscle to spend on this. There is an opportunity for smaller countries to pool together resources and develop shared systems helping their athletes. It would require utilizing a platform that allows data to be shared between coaches, trainers, managers and athletes. It is critical to ensure the data is not easily hacked, duplicated, or extracted without appropriate clearances. The blockchain can provide this secure environment without the risk of unauthorized participants stealing or accessing data.
6. Transparency For Drug Testing
Olympics are high-stakes competition. Every country and athlete is trying to get ahead, any edge, any advantage they can get. This can sometimes lead to the dark path of doping & performance-enhancing drugs.
Systematic doping of Russian sports-men and -women has resulted in 43 Olympic and tens of world championship medals being stripped from Russian competitors[when?]—the largest number from any country, more than four times the number of the runner-up, and more than 30% of the global total.[citation needed] Russia has the most competitors who have been caught doping at the Olympic Games, with more than 200.1
While Blockchain can not stop people from taking performance-enhancing substances, it can definitely increase the transparency and auditability of the process of testing. Blockchain-based solutions can provide an unassailable (impregnable) chain of custody for drug testing, handling, and storage. Instead of relying on hearsay based approach with opaque data, this system can increase the level of trust of participants and visitors in the whole process.
7. Fan Tokens + Fan Revenue Sharing + Content Creation
Fan engagement tokens have created the most exciting innovation at the intersection between sports & technology. This token is a “fungible digital” utility token that gives the holder (fans) access & influence over certain decisions made by the teams & managers. The tokens provide its owner the right to vote on team matters such as what should be the design of the kit, names for training ground, or picking charity initiatives.
Rewarding fans for interacting with sites, sharing content, interacting with posts on social media, and accumulating tokens that can be exchanged for collectibles or other important rewards - a truly monetizable loyalty program for fans. These fan tokens give members rights to be involved in decisions such as voting on the final jersey the team wears, special invite with athletes for web meetings etc. Teams can also hold contests on blockchain platforms, tying unique identifiers to fans who can purchase tickets to lead up events and, as a result, be entered into contests or giveaways.
8. Data and Information Sharing with Fans
Fans are not just crazy about the athlete but crave historical stats, performance data, wins/losses etc. While this information is brought up on video displays or on websites, it would be amazing to have this available real-time on a public blockchain. This would spur a wave of creative analytics and insights from enthusiasts that can perform “On-Chain” (on the blockchain) analytics leveraging this data building even more engaging platforms for fans to engage with their favorite teams and athletes.
9. Sports collectibles & NFTs
Olympic highlights and special moments can be converted into digital NFTs (similar to NBA Topshots) and made available for purchase to Fans. These authentic NFTs would increase in value & use as the digital metaverse capabilities improve.
Authentic Digital memorabilia. While memorabilia from older Olympic events are sold on online auction sites, it is still hard to validate their authenticity and lead to many fakes in circulation. Going into the next Olympics, the memorabilia can include “on-chain” verification to ensure it is easy to authenticate the artifact and have a clear traceability of ownership from the original purchaser.
10. Logistics for Tourists & Visitors
In addition to the ticketing benefits to visitors, blockchain capabilities can help the organizer improve the overall logistics & ecosystem available to the visitors of the events. From Airport clearance, hotel booking, nearby attractions, restaurants, deals, logistics many businesses and can be linked together to provide a more seamless & secure environment for the visitors of the events.
PWC Report on Blockchain & Sports industry
Some of my earlier posts if you have not read them yet
If you liked this article - Do sign-up for my FREE weekly newsletter, share it with your friends, and give me feedback. You can find me on Social Media Twitter - @sauravbhats or Linked in.
🚨Big Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. I am not an investment advisor. This information is meant to be for educational purposes. Please do your own research before you decide to invest your hard-earned money. If you are unsure seek help from a professional financial advisor who can understand the full breadth of your financial needs & commitments to advise you on what you should do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_in_Russia