Barça (aka FC Barcelona) has signed a partnership agreement with Chiliz. The latter is a blockchain-based fan engagement platform for sports and entertainment. The agreement, which is part of Barça’s digital and commercial strategy, aims to support Barça stay closer to its global fanbase through Barça Fan Tokens ($BAR).
“We are proud to welcome Chiliz to the Barça family as a new global partner. This agreement will give us the chance to set up innovative marketing and partnership activations with a clear focus on the digital realm to take the Club closer to our fans around the world. This agreement also forms part of FC Barcelona’s goal to become associated with leading brands that can help us consolidate our new commercial and digital strategy, with the development of new streams for the generation of resources helping to make us a benchmark both on and off the field.” Josep Pont, FC Barcelona Board Member and Head of Commercial Area.
Barça Fan Tokens ($BAR)
$BAR are digital assets which enable supporters to take part in polls and surveys. This happens via the Chiliz fan voting and rewards mobile app – Socios.com.
For Barça, the attraction is that the club’s fan – located across the globe – will receive rewards for every action undertaken on Socios.com. By climbing up leaderboards and receiving reward points, these are exchangeable for:
- Barça-branded merchandise
- once-in-a-lifetime experiences (like, presumably, visits to the Camp Nou).
According to the partners, $BAR Fan Token holders can also look forward to additional features on Socios.com, including:
- chat
- Fan Token trading
- games
- community challenges.
The Chiliz/Socios.com dimension
Barça Fan Tokens will be available in Q2 2020. 40M will then become available – with each $BAR costing €2 at the initial point of sale. Fans will be able to purchase Barça Fan Tokens when the FC Barcelona Fan Token Offering (FTO) opens.
In order to buy Barça Fan Tokens, fans must use Chiliz ($CHZ), the digital currency of Socios.com. Fans can:
- buy $CHZ on the Socios.com app
- transfer the necessary value from a digital wallet.
- purchase on Chiliz.net, a crypto exchange for sports & entertainment.
$CHZ lists on multiple cryptocurrency exchanges. Fans will also be able to accumulate free $CHZ and $BAR Fan Tokens periodically through Token Hunt. The latter is Socios.com’s in-app Augmented Reality (AR) feature.
“We are very excited to welcome FC Barcelona to Socios.com, and even more excited to start engaging with their massive fan base around the world. With over 300 million fans worldwide, Barça’s fandom spans countries as well as cultures. The Club is without a doubt the most renowned and the most supported football club in the world and we can’t wait to see their fans start to influence Club decisions. Adding FC Barcelona fans to the Socios.com global community takes us one step closer to our goal of mainstream adoption of blockchain. Every time a fan downloads the app, we are furthering education, and every time a fan buys a Fan Tokens, we are strengthening the use cases of this innovative technology.” Alexandre Drefyus, CEO & Founder of Socios.com & Chiliz.
Enterprise Times: what does this mean
The partnership agreement is the first blockchain partnership to be signed by the club. It is part of FC Barcelona’s expansion strategy which aims to boost the Club’s commitment to new digital channels and formats for connecting and generating engagement with its global audience.
In concept, this is not that dissimilar to the Lancashire Cricket Club (LCC) initiative previously discussed. Indeed, the principle difference is, probably, scale. LCC is a minnow compared to the global reach and attractions of Barça. Nevertheless, Enterprise Times expects the pursuit of similar moves by sporting ‘entities’ trying to tie fans closer (as Juventus and Paris Saint Germain are already doing with Socios.com).
