Socios.com, a blockchain provider for the sports industry, is today announcing a new partnership with Leicester Tigers, alongside two other leading rugby union clubs. This is its latest expansion into a new sport as it continues building its global ecosystem of fans from teams and organisations from some of the biggest sports in the world.
Tigers will become one of the first rugby clubs, alongside Harlequins and Saracens, to launch Fan Tokens with Socios.com.
The partnership marks Socios.com’s expansion into rugby union, building on established and growing presence in other major global sports including football, Formula One and tennis.
Fan Token holders will be able to access a wide range of experiences, from winning signed and match-worn shirts, and getting personal player meet-and-greets, to being able to spend a day with the Premiership Trophy.
The new Tigers Fan Token will be accessible via Socios.com’s fan engagement platform, providing Fan Token holders with an array of new opportunities for engagement through polls, greater access to their club and its players, and a community where they can build networks with other fans.
The Socios.com platform is designed to allow clubs to reward fans for engaging and supporting their team.
The experiences set to be provided by the new rugby union Fan Tokens include being able to spend a day with the Premiership Trophy, be it to take to the office on the daily commute, to your sports club or even the local!
Others range from meet-and-greets with players and training ground tours across the season to the chance to play on the pitch and get behind the scenes access, all aimed at bringing Fan Token holders closer to their club. Socios.com and Leicester Tigers will continue liaising with fans and Fan Token holders in order to provide clubs with a new way to reward and engage their fans.
There are currently 1.5 million fans from more than 160 countries using Socios.com to connect with and be rewarded by their favourite clubs. Other sports teams and organisations with Fan Tokens include Manchester City, AC Milan, Juventus, FC Barcelona, Aston Martin and the Davis Cup. Socios.com has more than 150 partners in 25 countries across 10 sports: American Football, basketball, cricket, football, gaming, ice hockey, MMA, motor sports, rugby and tennis.
As part of the announcement, Season Ticket Members from each rugby team will be given a free Fan Token to start to enjoy the benefits of the token-gated community. Fan Tokens will be made available through a fixed initial Fan Token Offering (FTO) price of £2 at the end of August, at which point clubs will launch a tiered community of benefits and rewards.
Mark Davies, Head of Business Development at Leicester Tigers, said: “Technology is rapidly changing how sports fans want to interact with their clubs. The key is working with fans to ensure it is used in a way which benefits them, and that’s why we’re hugely excited about Fan Tokens. We believe that by doing so we are able to offer supporters meaningful connections on a regular basis in a world that is becoming more and more prominent in today’s society.”
Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of Chiliz and Socios.com, added: “Launching in a new sport is always a big moment for Socios.com and the growth of platform. The wider rugby community comprises some of the most passionate sports fans around. It has long been an ambition to launch in this area and between Leicester, Harlequins and Saracens, we are partnering with three of the best-known and best-supported rugby union sides. We are looking forward to working with these teams to offer a differentiating way of engaging with their fans.
“More broadly, we’re excited to add three more leading clubs to our platform’s multi-sports ecosystem, as we continue building an offer for fans of clubs and organisations in the world’s biggest sports. We have further updates developments ahead for Socios.com as we look to expand and enhance our tokenised system of fan engagement, access, community and rewards.”
