- The Premier League is reportedly in talks with NFT-based fantasy gaming firm Sorare.
- The £30 million multi-year deal will see Sorare deliver NFTs to Premier League fans.
- The league is also considering a separate NFT-related deal with Dapper Labs.
- Sorare counts French footballer Kylian Mbappe and SoftBank among its backers.
The Premier League is reportedly in talks with Sorare, a French NFT-based fantasy gaming startup, for a multi-year deal to provide Ethereum-based NFTs to football fans.
As per a report published by Sky News, the Premier League is set to discuss the proposed multi-year deal with its 20 football clubs. The deal is reportedly valued at £30 million per year.
NFTs for Premier League fans
If the deal goes through, Sorare will provide digital player cards or NFTs to football fans who will be able to use them to buy, sell, trade, and manage a virtual football team. These NFTs would feature footballers such as Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland of Manchester City, in addition to images of match highlights and artwork.
According to tech industry insiders, the deal between the Premier League and Sorare will see a previous agreement with U.S-based ConsenSys scrapped. ConsensSys, the firm behind NFT marketplace Metamask, attempted to renegotiate the terms of their deal with the league following the recent slide in NFT floor price slide, but league executives found the Sorare deal more viable.
Sorare counts French footballer Kylian Mbappe and Japanese investment giant Softbank amongst its investors. The blockchain-based startup raised $680 in its Series B funding round in September last year, valuing it at $4.3 billion. Sorare boasts 2 million registered users. Data from OpenSea shows that the floor price of Sorare’s digital collectibles is 0.004 ETH. Its fantasy football game currently features over 280 licensed clubs. Earlier this year, the web3 startup partnered with Major League Baseball for a similar deal. Just last month, Sorare announced its third NFT game with the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Sky News also reported that the Premier League is considering a separate deal with Dapper Labs, which is currently involved in a similar NFT deal with the NBA.