Fan token platform Socios has announced a partnership with 13 NFL teams, finally entering the American football market.
The deal will result in market-specific rewards for fans of each franchise, focusing on fan engagement efforts and marketing activations. Rewards include surprise meet-and-greet with players, player-led tours of stadiums and much more.
In-stadium advertising is also permitted under the terms of the agreement.
The thirteen NFL teams who partnered with Socios are Washington Commanders, Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams.
Despite the partnership, the NFL has not allowed sales of digital fan tokens as of yet due to regulation concerns. The NFL only recently loosened its regulation to allow blockchain sponsorships and NFT advertising.
Promotion of cryptocurrency and fan tokens are still not allowed by the league.
“In the U.S., it’s been a long process of education and finding comfort. In our specific case, educating the NFL on exactly what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it and how a blockchain is incorporated into that, and why essentially it’s safe or sustainable and why we’re a good partner if they were to say yes” said Max Rabinovitch, Chief Strategy Officer of Socios.com.
Socios.com is also gearing up to launch a US centric app this summer. Socios has only partnered with one American football team before, New England Patriots, through a strategic partnership with Krafts Sports Group.
The Chiliz owned platform has found enormous success in Europe. Socios entered a partnership with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in February. The platform has also managed to bag Lionel Messi as its first global brand ambassador.
