First Metaverse Sports League.

Sports are an important part of human identity. It helps us associate with a community and touches the psychic part of our existence that invokes immense passion. 

Be it player selection or in-game strategy, fans often have strong opinions about critical decisions in professional sports. That’s the reason why the online fantasy sports industry commands $8 billion market capitalization in the U.S. alone, with over 50 million online players. 

In 2017, FANchise, LLC created a new American football league where users can participate in real-world games by owning a team or being a part of the team’s management. It’s called Fan Controlled Football (FCF), where teams are composed of highly-skilled players. 

These teams are co-owned by celebrities like Mike Tyson, Marshawn Lynch, Richard Sherman, and Greg Miller. The league is now expanding to include four NFT-based teams, and you have a chance to become an owner. Team owners get a share from their revenue. 

The project recently raised $40 million from leading blockchain game developers, Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital. These teams have previously been associated with successful projects like Axie Infinity. 

Delphi Digital’s most recent endeavor with Altered State Machines churned over 40x profits for early NFT holders as the team announced token and breeding benefits for the upcoming online soccer game. FCF could offer similar gains as they enable monetary incentives for NFT holders.

FCF held its first tournament during the Spring season of 2021 with four teams, each of seven football players. The event on Twitch drew 2.1 million viewers during the playoffs (semi-finals and finals). 

The games were held in Vegas, while team owners could strategize using a mobile app from around the world.

FCF Tryouts for the upcoming season in Los Angeles. Source: Youtube

This season FCF is adding four additional teams via the Ballerz Collective initiative NFT collection. Each team is represented by holders of other popular NFT collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club, Gutter Cats, Steve Aoki, and Knights of Degen. 

Currently, these teams are owned by a few members of the above NFT clubs (owners are in the image below).

NFT Teams on FCF. Source: Fcf.io

While the new FCF Ballers NFT collection doesn’t give team ownership rights to its holders, it will give exclusive access to a crowdfunding sale on Republic for the team’s securities.

Last year, FCF teams raised money at a valuation of $7.5 million. For instance, FCF team Beast, partially owned by Marshawn Lynch, a legend in football, and pro-wrestling star, Miro, raised $350,000 in a public sale for 4.66% team ownership. 

By owning the team’s shares, you can share the profits, flex our team ownership badge, and benefit from the increase in the team’s valuation.   

Besides access to crowdfunding, the Ballerz NFT holders will also get a vote in team management, VIP tickets to games, some play-calling power, and merchandise drops. 

How to Get Ahead in the FCF Mint Race? 

The first step is holding one of the upcoming 8,888 NFTs in the Ballerz collection for each team. The mint price for each NFT is 0.1776 ETH (worth ~$470).

Ballerz Collective NFTs. Source: Fcf.io

The holders of the partner NFTs will have a chance to mint one free and up to seven NFTs at a 50% discount with access to the presale.

The rest of the unsold NFTs will be open for public sale; wallets can mint upto 10 NFTs each. However, you can expect the drop to be over during the presales. 

The best chance to mint the Ballerz NFT is to get whitelisted for a particular team for presale access. Since BAYC (including its family of collections MAYC and BAYC dogs) and Gutter Cats (including Gutter Dogs, Rats, and Pigeons) are more expensive, and the registration for KoD is closed, you can still go with the Steve Aoki collection. 

Purchase the NFTs on OpenSea and fill the respective forms on Steve Aoki’s Discord group to get selected for the drop. These files are only accessible by NFT owners. Pro Tip: Search for “fcf,” or “google forms” in the Discord channel if you cannot find the form.

As mentioned earlier, FCF is backed by leading crypto firms such as Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital. The latter has a cunning reputation in the crypto industry due to their tokenomics contribution to projects like Axie Infinity and an artificial intelligence-powered soccer game, AIFA. 

There is a likelihood that FCF will soon have a token too, and NFT holders will be the first to benefit from the drop. Currently, FCF gives out FANIQ credits, which help upgrade a player’s level. 

Ballerz NFT holders can rent out their NFTs to interested managers and share the rewards from the winnings. As mentioned earlier, holders can also wait for the Republic sale for team ownership and later sell their NFTs to interested players. 

The NFT sale is scheduled for Feb. 3 and 4, for pre-sale and public, respectively. Good luck!