🔊 Trouble In Candyland?

GM. Welcome to The Hype Report where we break down the latest news, stories & happenings around sports & web3.

Here's What You Need To Know This Week 📝 

• Michael Rubin's Fanatics Sells Off Its Majority Stake in NFT Startup Candy Digital

• Virtualness Wins Exclusive Deal To Philippine Basketball Association's NFTs

• A New Web3 Golf Startup Launched This Week

• Founder Feature Of The Week

Let's Dive Into It 🤿

Michael Rubin's Fanatics Sells Off Its Majority Stake in NFT Startup Candy Digital 🍭

NFTs can be tough business.

According to a company-wide memo, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin announced the company has sold off about a 60% stake in Candy Digital to Michael Novogratz and Galaxy Digital.

Galaxy Digital is the other founding shareholder of the sports-focused NFT startup aside from Gary Vee.

Candy Digital launched in June 2021, and quickly leveled up to a $1.5 billion valuation when it raised $100 million in October of that year.

As we all know, the NFT market declined significantly in 2022 and like many NFT startups, Candy Digital wasn't exempt from the impact.

In November, they laid off at least one-third of its 100-person staff.

In his email to his staff, Rubin said that NFTs: “Will most likely emerge as an integrated product/feature and not as a standalone business.”

He also went on to say: “Over the past year, it has become clear that NFTs are unlikely to be sustainable or profitable as a standalone business,” and furthermore, that Fanatics believes that “digital products will have more value and utility when connected to physical collectibles to create the best experience for collectors.”

In January 2022, Fanatics acquired Topps for roughly $500 million after also acquiring the rights to produce MLB trading cards, ending an almost 70-year partnership between the two brands.

They also raised $700 million in December, so they could use that new money to focus on merger and acquisition opportunities across its collectibles, betting, and gaming businesses.

This most recent raise pushed the company’s valuation to $31 billion.

Here's some additional perspective...

There are a lot of brands, companies, and individuals that are looking at NFTs mainly as an additional source of revenue.

I'm starting to believe this is a challenging way of leveraging NFTs especially as the market is maturing and figuring itself out.

The path forward with NFTs for most consumer-facing brands should not be about driving revenue.

It's in retention.

Community.

Loyalty.

Membership.

(Blank)-to-earn.

In my opinion, for NFTs to work long-term in sports or any other industry, organizations have to lead with an engagement-first mentality. Not a sales-first mentality.

There has to be actual value and utility built in that is meaningful to the consumer.

Or situations like the one above might become the norm.

What are your thoughts on this?

Virtualness Wins Multi-Year Deal Rights to Philippine Basketball Association's NFT Digital Collectibles 🏀

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and Virtualness, a mobile-first platform that helps creators and brands to scale their businesses, recently announced an exclusive partnership.

Virtualness will power a digital experience for basketball fans to discover, explore, collect, trade, buy and own memorable, NFT moments in the PBA games.

These NFT collectibles have several use cases – from gamification to unlocking unique fan experiences.

The PBA is also building a customized community built around purchasing, trading, and owning digital collectibles.

The NFTs can be used to unlock unique virtual and real-world experiences such as:

• Player meet and greets

• Invitations to special seats

• Online discounts, exclusives & more

The Philippines is a tech-savvy nation, ranking in the top five nations across the globe interested in NFTs.

According to the Philippines NFT Market Intelligence Report 2022, the NFT industry in the Philippines is expected to grow steadily at a 32.6% CAGR during 2022-2028 reaching $12.5B+ by 2028.

In addition to building relevancy and awareness, the PBA believes this initiative will further fuel fandom & encourage more children to participate & learn the nation's favorite sport.

The PBA Virtualness platform will launch in the first half of 2023, with loyalty fan experiences and rewards following later in the year.

Brought To You By Zebu Live

PSA: We're excited to announce we are partnering with London's leading Web3 conference Zebu Live which takes place October 4th-5th 2023.

Zebu Live is a 2-day event focused on bringing web3 people together in an effort to make this space mainstream.

During the 2-day event, there will be panels, entertainment, and ofcourse a whole lot of networking.

Also, some of the biggest blockchain and web3 companies will be in attendance, so if you're in town you won't want to miss it.

And ofcourse, you know we had to throw in an exclusive deal for you.

This link right here gets you 25% off your ticket: ZEBU LIVE 25

Fun fact: In case you were wondering... Zebu stands for “zero bullshit” and “always bullish” (look up the animal “Zebu” on Google).

Web3 Golf Startup "Play Today" Launched This Week ⛳

This week Australian tech entrepreneur Clive Mayhew invested $1.2 million to launch Play Today, a new web3 platform designed to enable golfers across the world to score, experience, and connect online.

Play Today is designed with a built-in digital wallet that's integrated into a golf scoring app, a golf NFT marketplace, and a golf metaverse.

Apparently, this is the world’s first use of web3 technology connecting the physical game of golf with digital wallets and an immersive online community experience.

The Play Today digital wallet offers member benefits including:

• Access to the exclusive Play Today global online community

• Other premium features that are available using blockchain-based technology.

Clive Mayhew, CEO of Play Today, said:

“Watching the web3 sector develop reminds me of my days at Netscape when we were pioneering the first iteration of the internet. There appears to be a misconception that web3 is all about digital currencies and speculation, but we are actually seeing meaningful innovation and value creation that will fundamentally change so many aspects of our digital lives."

The Play Today digital scoring app is available now in Apple and Google stores, while the Play Today NFT Marketplace is available at: https://playtodaynft.com

The Play Today MetaVerse will be launching in March 2023. A PC-based demo of the MetaVerse is available at: https://golf3.com

Founder Feature Of The Week 📰

Ever heard of a DAO?

Boardroom spoke to Derrick Thomas, who is the founder of the DAO community Tech Runs, about their mission and how his organization is onboarding more people to Web3 and crypto.

Check out the full feature by Boardroom's web3/crypto reporter Michelai Graham below:

Quick Hits 🎯

The 10 Potential AI Apps That Could Revolutionize Sports

Web3 Projects Aim To Create Engagement Between Fans & Sports Leagues

FTX Failure Forces Rethink On Global Sports Sponsorship

Scientists Predict Critical Role For Metaverse In Sport

Thanks for reading this week.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and talk again next Sunday,

Malcolm

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not financial or business advice in any capacity. The information shared is my thoughts & opinions and does not represent the opinions of any other person, business, entity, or sponsor.

The contents of this newsletter also should not be used in any public or private domain without the author's express permission. The contents of this newsletter should not be used for any commercial activity, for example, research report, consultancy activity, or paywalled article, without the author's express permission.