The rise of Digital Currencies

Earlier this month, Manchester City FC announced their association with Socios.com to launch the Manchester City Fan Token, joining a list of clubs who have already made their own digital currencies through the services offered by socios or other such platforms.

As the whole world is heavily invested in talks about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, the sporting world also has had their fair share of exposure to it. Be it as sponsors, as means to develop / automate a few processes within the matchday experience or simply bettering the everyday fan experience.

Off-late we have seen an increase in interest for digital currencies. Clubs are working with various platforms/providers to create their own digital currencies (tokens) that allows the fans to further engage with the club in a more personalised way.

A Sense of Authority

When a club creates a digital currency for its fans, they create a feeling of exclusivity among their fan base and it drives a need to further engage with the club and it's activities. If the club uses these currencies as a gateway to exclusive VIP content and benefits and also uses them as a means to give the fans a chance to give their opinions and vote on various club initiatives. This again gives the fans a sense of authority and will drive a further need to engage with the club.

A new revenue stream

Creating digital currencies can act as a new revenue stream for the club as the fans will now have to buy these currencies to use them for whatever purpose they want to use them for. The club can also give out a few currencies as gifts and rewards to loyal fans so more fans are accustomed to using these currencies. And if they can integrate these currencies with their clubstores and other partner stores, it can further drive more revenues for the club.

Total control of data

The biggest advantage of using your own digital currency for any sports club is to own the entire data of how the coins are being used, how the purchase trends are, what exactly the fans are interested in and how do their fans really behave. Data is the new oil and if the club can completely control and learn from this data then they can create countless new possibilities to increase their revenue, improve their fan engagement and increase their fan morale in general. Digital Currencies are just one of the many new fan engagement technologies that are rapidly changing the way fans consume sports and it is only going to grow in the years to come. We also have within our system the possibility to create your own digital currency along with all the other 30+ features we offer.