In modern sport, it is often the financial side that draws equal attention to the action itself. Sponsorship, advertising and complicated contracts are just as important as the action on the field. As the stakes continue to rise, it can be difficult for young athletes to break through without exceptionally high levels of financial backing. SportyCo are an innovative new company looking to remove these monetary barriers through new Blockchain technologies.
On February 2 2018 SportyCo announced its partnership with the Spanish football team RCD Espanyol, which plays in La Liga (the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system). According to their website, SportyCo has received endorsements from various high-profile professional footballers such as Ronaldhino.
Previously named SportyFi, SportyCo state that they are a ‘decentralized sports funding and investment system’. At its heart, the aim is to enable promising professional sports players to progress their game, by removing the increasingly high monetary barriers involved when it comes to becoming an elite athlete. This is achieved using a Blockchain system, which once again is showing its versatility after proving its worth preventing double-spend and digital advertising fraud.
SportyCo’s model works through a Blockchain-run crowdfunding model. The analogy in their whitepaper details the case of a young tennis player who can’t afford to travel abroad for a big tournament that would play a key part in progressing her career. Through an online campaign, guided by SportyCo staff, she is able to crowdfund enough SportyCo tokens (SPF) to exchange into dollars, attend the tournament and contribute to her ‘rising star’ status. SportyCo will take a cut of the money raised as their administration fee.
SPF tokens are Ethereum smart-contract (ERC20) compatible and can be purchased on exchanges such as Okex, HitBTC and LiveCoin. The December 2017 ICO reached over $5 million dollars, and as well as gaining public support from several professional athletes (including welcoming Roberto Carlos as a partnership manager). Additionally, Bitcoin advocate and pioneer Charlie Shrem and Phillip Nunn, CEO of The Blackmore Group, Blockchain evangelist and public speaker, are outspoken backers.
SportyCo has announced that the platform will be officially launching on March 31 2018. Should the project be successful, it could prove revolutionary for many aspiring elite athletes who are currently barred from achieving their full potential due to financial obstacles.
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