The article should be viewed from the perspective that it was written in July, 2022. Personally, I found it very complex to understand and I hope there is a degree of ringfencing around the club's finances. If I were to have a day with Preston and some detailed explanation, I might just begin to have an understanding of this stuff. I suppose it comes from a financial system that only works while people believe it works, so I'm unclear whether I should be hopeful or not.
I was sceptical there would be a market for a Crawley NFT. Three and a half million quid later, you have to say they've ticked that box for this year's funding at least. The question is can it be repeated for x many years in the future. The NFT market is wobbling a fair bit, but it has not totally collapsed given we are in the depths of the crypto winter. I suspect it will survive as there are plenty of rich hobbyists around. Less speculative fervour, one hopes, which can only be a good thing.
The owners may have to work a lot harder to persuade future NFT buyers though. The democracy aspect is a very difficult sell, while very noble and idealistic, the practicalities are just enormous and I can't see a way they can be overcome save for window-dressing votes that won't matter. I think setting up some kind of Crawley TV channel once we get out of the IFollow deal may be a better way forward, lots of additional content built around the matchday pictures may keep those £300+ NFTs still selling into the future.
If anyone has the 'Dummies Guide' short version please go ahead and provide it. Right where are the paracetamol tablets...
I was hoping someone who understood it would may be put an abridged version so us lesser mortals could understand what its all about.
Not claiming to understand anything technical about NFTS but in my simple mid after reading it .................
Previously we had a set number of income streams like ticket sales, catering, programmes, sponsorship etc and that was pretty much fixed unless we could grow crowds or get promoted
The new ownership has added an extra tier to all of that as the old model wasn't making enough money which allows online technically savvy types to become virtual season ticket holders which gives them some benefits that they can use if they choose. The appeal seems to be that the Wagmi offering is a real package of benefits rather than just pure speculation as with Bitcoin. By bringing in these investors the club raised over 3 million already and the aim would be to do more offerings as time goes on with presumably different benefits offered to them. These individuals hopefully will become supporters in their own distinct way.
I guess not so different than getting sky sports to watch the games live rather than the highlights like I do on Match of the day except there is an underlying club to support and the possibility that your investment could rocket if all goes well.
I was sceptical there would be a market for a Crawley NFT. Three and a half million quid later, you have to say they've ticked that box for this year's funding at least. The question is can it be repeated for x many years in the future. The NFT market is wobbling a fair bit, but it has not totally collapsed given we are in the depths of the crypto winter. I suspect it will survive as there are plenty of rich hobbyists around. Less speculative fervour, one hopes, which can only be a good thing.
The owners may have to work a lot harder to persuade future NFT buyers though. The democracy aspect is a very difficult sell, while very noble and idealistic, the practicalities are just enormous and I can't see a way they can be overcome save for window-dressing votes that won't matter. I think setting up some kind of Crawley TV channel once we get out of the IFollow deal may be a better way forward, lots of additional content built around the matchday pictures may keep those £300+ NFTs still selling into the future.
Agree Steve 100%. Which is why I’m partly hoping they do away with ifollow or at least ease the restriction on it being restricted for 3pm Saturday matches. I know Preston was keen to get some kind of Crawley Town FC hub where season ticket holders and NFT buyers can access and get exclusive stuff and watch the matches as ifollow is really poor.
I was sceptical there would be a market for a Crawley NFT. Three and a half million quid later, you have to say they've ticked that box for this year's funding at least. The question is can it be repeated for x many years in the future. The NFT market is wobbling a fair bit, but it has not totally collapsed given we are in the depths of the crypto winter. I suspect it will survive as there are plenty of rich hobbyists around. Less speculative fervour, one hopes, which can only be a good thing.
The owners may have to work a lot harder to persuade future NFT buyers though. The democracy aspect is a very difficult sell, while very noble and idealistic, the practicalities are just enormous and I can't see a way they can be overcome save for window-dressing votes that won't matter. I think setting up some kind of Crawley TV channel once we get out of the IFollow deal may be a better way forward, lots of additional content built around the matchday pictures may keep those £300+ NFTs still selling into the future.
Agree Steve 100%. Which is why I’m partly hoping they do away with ifollow or at least ease the restriction on it being restricted for 3pm Saturday matches. I know Preston was keen to get some kind of Crawley Town FC hub where season ticket holders and NFT buyers can access and get exclusive stuff and watch the matches as ifollow is really poor.
That's why I'm not against getting rid of the 3pm blackout as some people are. I actually don't think it will have an adverse effect on matchday revenue and clubs in L1 and L2 might be able to generate more broadcasting revenue as the current deal with Sky is very bad for these clubs (they seem to think only the Championship is worth watching until the playoffs start). As for watching Premier League games at that time, there are a lot of people who end up using illegal streaming to watch whichever game(s) are on at 3pm so in a way I see this as similar to when the music industry solved the issue of illegal downloads due to the rise of streaming services like Spotify
I was sceptical there would be a market for a Crawley NFT. Three and a half million quid later, you have to say they've ticked that box for this year's funding at least. The question is can it be repeated for x many years in the future. The NFT market is wobbling a fair bit, but it has not totally collapsed given we are in the depths of the crypto winter. I suspect it will survive as there are plenty of rich hobbyists around. Less speculative fervour, one hopes, which can only be a good thing.
The owners may have to work a lot harder to persuade future NFT buyers though. The democracy aspect is a very difficult sell, while very noble and idealistic, the practicalities are just enormous and I can't see a way they can be overcome save for window-dressing votes that won't matter. I think setting up some kind of Crawley TV channel once we get out of the IFollow deal may be a better way forward, lots of additional content built around the matchday pictures may keep those £300+ NFTs still selling into the future.
Agree Steve 100%. Which is why I’m partly hoping they do away with ifollow or at least ease the restriction on it being restricted for 3pm Saturday matches. I know Preston was keen to get some kind of Crawley Town FC hub where season ticket holders and NFT buyers can access and get exclusive stuff and watch the matches as ifollow is really poor.
The 3pm blackout only applies is the UK, there are no restrictions to watching a 3pm ko on iFollow for fans outside the UK which means that it would probably be in Crawley's interest to keep the status quo given that you currently have a relatively small UK fanbase compared with other EFL clubs but 5.6k NFT holders which should mean a relatively large number of engaged non-UK fans compared to other EFL teams.
Streamimg is almost certainly the future but I hope the EFL think long and hard about the proposed changes, especially around the distribution of income which at the moment goes entirely to the club which sells the iFollow pass because it will distort the competitive nature of the divisions by providing teams with large fanbases a big new revenue stream whilst at the same time potentially reducing the number of fans travelling to away matches which would disproportionally impact smaller teams who rely on visiting teams bringing large away followings to boost matchday revenue. If you're on Twitter, I recommend giving Andy Holt (the Accy chairman) a follow, I don't really agree with his views on iFollow but he's got some very good points about the current funding model and the proposed changes.
Re Steve's points, based on PJ's comments, the £3.5m NFT sales will have resulted in £1.4m-£1.75m being added to CTFC's coffers but with regard to the second paragraph, I unequivocally agree with everything. It's hard to see how the "democratic functionality" aspect of the NFT's has been delivered to date which is not surprising given how complicated it would be and with the greatest possible respect to the young lad who was signed but it's hard to see how the voting for a "star midfielder" was anything more than window dressing, especially when his player profile on the CTFC website lists him as a defender. Delivering live streaming and additional video content to NFT holders is clearly an area that Wagmi are keen to embrace but even then, an overseas iFollow season pass is only £140 which already comes with 46 matches and a load of extra video content so if you're paying £350 for an NFT which is prioritising functionality over investment potential then there clearly has to be something else included and investors who were promised a real say and involvement in how the club is run will not return next season if that promise is not delivered upon this season.
