Fantasy Premier League achieved its status as the number one fantasy offering for the sport thanks to its endurance for more than 20 years, but also due to its evolution in that time. The service has adapted to various technological developments over time, and enjoyed a surge in players when it was made available for mobile.
The next big upgrade coming to FPL could be blockchain. As the internet gradually moves towards Web3, FPL may need to adapt and integrate this technology to stay relevant and compete with other blockchain-based fantasy football services.
Blockchain-Based Fantasy Football Apps on the Rise
There have been a few blockchain-powered fantasy platforms cropping up in recent years, and there’s clearly potential for them to take off in the future. Sorare is the leading offering, released in 2019. The game allows players to buy, sell, and trade digital cards that represent real-world football players.
The great thing about Sorare is that it uses NFTs, which exist on the blockchain and can’t be replicated. It means that players truly own their cards, just as they would have done back in the day with physical trading cards. The game has taken a lot of inspiration from those early, real-world offerings as well, with cards coming in different levels of scarcity. The Super Rare and Unique ones are much harder to come by, giving them higher market value.
Along with collecting the cards, players can put them together in a five-player lineup in the fantasy game. They gain points based on their real-life player counterparts, and this enables competition between Sorare players.
Various Other Industries Integrating Blockchain
Fantasy football isn’t the only place in which blockchain is already being integrated. Various other industries see this as the future and have already made a push towards it. Ticketing companies, for instance, have found that blockchain is an excellent way to eradicate the possibility of forgery.
Music artists have used the blockchain to distribute limited-edition releases as well, with Kings of Leon becoming the first band to release an album as an NFT when they dropped When You See Yourself in 2021. The online casino industry has been a pioneer of blockchain integration, too, with Bitcoin payments in the crypto casino market now available with deposit match bonuses. It may not be too long before this blockchain integration is seen everywhere.
An FPL Blockchain Offering Could Exist Separately from the Current Model
If the FPL developers decide to start integrating blockchain, it may have to be done in an offering that’s separate from what already exists at first. Players would not like a drastic switch away from FPL’s current mechanics, but some may be open to a new game that mirrors what makes Sorare so popular.
FPL could have its own trading card version, with the player cards represented as NFTs. Players could collect these cards and then form teams with them, benefiting from their real-world scores in the same way that they currently do in FPL. This would lead to a much wider variety of teams, and would add another competitive element to the game in the fact that clever trading would be required.
There has been no announcement of FPL introducing blockchain yet, but it could be on the horizon. The online world is moving towards this future, and many existing businesses will have to adapt.
