If an executive has not heard about NFTs/blockchain by now, then you'd have to question what planet they've been living on! They don't have to understand the technology. Large brands have highly sophisticated licensing departments where they employ teams of people to source new partners that will leverage their IP.
In terms of major sports, 90%+ are yet to sign with any NFT/blockchain partners because it remains a nascent opportunity. NBA Top Shots has changed all that. Thus, the time to strike these major deals is now, because it will soon be too late (or too expensive). That is why the QPR deal is a disapointment (or distraction might be more appropriate). Animoca are too well-known and powerful to waste time on such trivial deals, which consume too much valuable time and resources. They have bigger fish to fry.
When you have the Olympics on your CV, commercial doors remain wide-open, so Animoca can now be much more selective.
I'm of the view that sports licensing deals are much easier to negotiate right now than at any other time in the past decade. Firstly, the pandemic has decimated revenues and many competitions/teams are desperate to plug their budget deficits. They are open to any new revenue streams, especially one that could generate millions of dollars. Secondly, Animoca has F1 as a live use-case, so will be able to back-up their pitch with some robust financial projections, which is a major advantage. Thirdly, IP licensing for blockchain/NFTs would provide these brands with a new revenue stream. This makes the deal much less complex - you do not have to wait for the existing deal to end or compete on price with the existing partner. This provides Animoca with a clear path to agree deals relatively quickly. Collectively, this leads me to think that Animoca are able to negotiate such deals from an enviable position of strength. The Olympics deal seems to offer some proof.
I'd agree that the full launch of the Sandbox appears to be the next near-term catalyst for a stock-price re-rating and, as holders, we all hope that it can develop into the blockchain equivalent of Roblox. However, it is far too early to tell and it faces plenty of competition from all the other metaverses, such as Decentraland, Cryptovoxels and Somnium. If the Sandbox isn't a major success, then what else does the company have to fall back on? Mainly IP-related games. I think that licensing will remain pivotal to the business strategy for the forseeable future, such as the $8m+ spent on acquiring the Sanrio/Hello Kitty IP as well as all the other IP-related games.
AB1 Price at posting:
18.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
