Blockchain in Sports

This is the first book to examine the impact of blockchain technology on the business of sport. It introduces the fundamentals of blockchain and explores its current and prospective applications in sport, as well as the implications - both positive and negative - of blockchain for the future of the global sport industry. The book opens by explaining how blockchain works, assuming no prior knowledge on the part of the reader, and introduces the most important aspects of blockchain in practice, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), as well as new ways of gathering data, such as the Internet of Things, that interact with blockchain infrastructure. The book then examines blockchain in relation to functional areas of sport business, including marketing and fan engagement, athlete contracting and doping records, sport betting markets, fantasy leagues, and esports. This is essential reading for anybody with an interest in sport business and management, e-commerce, or the impact of new technologies on the economy and wider society.

Stuart Thomas is Associate Professor in the Blockchain Innovation Hub at RMIT University, Australia, and is the Hub's Director of Education Development. Stuart is a senior educator and a highly successful leader and developer of innovative, practical education programmes, more recently working in the Web3 space building multidisciplinary, blockchain programmes for business. Stuart has diverse research interests and has published widely, including at the intersection of technology and sports. Kieran D. Tierney is Senior Lecturer in Marketing at RMIT University, Australia. His research interests are the intersection of consumer engagement, services branding, and brand strategy with a particular focus on the co-creation of service brand meaning. He is a founding member of the esports Research Network and member of the Market-Shaping special interest group of the Australia New Zealand Marketing Academy. Jason Potts is Distinguished Professor of Economics at RMIT University, Australia, and Co-director of the Blockchain Innovation Hub at RMIT. He is also a chief investigator on the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. His research work focuses on the economics of innovation and new technologies, economic evolution, institutional economics, and complexity economics at the intersection of technology and society, including in sports and the creative industries.

1 Introduction to blockchain technologies 2 Blockchain in sports and marketing business models 3 Truth and trust in sports 4 Sports data as an economic output 5 New organisation forms in sports 6 Esports and the metaverse 7 The future for blockchain in sports