The current issues facing niche sports are centered around a lack of visibility and funding. Competing with the current Goliath's of the sports scene in their own monopolized environment isn't a fair battle with most sports sharing investors, private equity, and global media partnerships. Apart from a miracle the Web2 sports market is all but certainly cornered.

However not all the lack of growth can be blamed on a the current state of sports. The truth is that most of the time niche sports stay on the fringes due to the sport purely being a niche interest, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, it keeps the sport real and to its roots. This only becomes an issue when funding is needed to reach a greater audience that may benefit from the sport. This is a limitation in Web2 and the current media landscape as the eyes are all that matters, sponsors won't jump into a fringe scene unless they get their return (and rightly so), investors won't jump in unless they see major profitability or stock growth in the future (which niche sports can never promise), and private equity won't even give you a glance in the first place (and you shouldn't expect one either).

Web3 Social

With a new technology, a new form of distribution is a very exciting endeavor to undertake. With he emergence of Web3 from its earliest stages new social Dapps can be found on numerous blockchain ecosystems, such as Farcaster, Lens Protocol (Orb), BlueSky and Odysee. These platforms can be leveraged to gain a first movers advantage on social apps that can be the future for the way the internet and personal ownership is heading. Using these social platforms also opens your niche sport up to a new audience of Web3 natives, who most of the time love to support any serious attempt at harnessing the Web3 technology in a positive way that both promotes the sport and the technology.

Micro Apps

With the emergence of social apps and Web3's space within that ecosystem, Micro-Apps / Web-Apps can be made to embed and implement directly through an already standing social media app, whether it be Web2 or Web3. A great example of this is Telegram. The ability to utilize the link between Telegram and the TON ecosystem allows for a niche sport to hit the ground running for as low a cost as possible, while being more discover-able than most blockchain Dapps due to the Telegram App store. With it's built in features Sports can use Telegram to launch NFTs, create an app for a select purpose within the sport, create their own token, and list their own store. Yes this does mean that the sport will be tied to a social app which is both a good and a bad thing, but as a start this is perfect in almost every way.

NFT's

A great form of fund raising and hopefully fan utility, NFT's are a great win-win for any niche sport. Unfortunately NFT's don't have the best reputation due to 90% of these projects being the epitome of all talk and no action, and this has resulted in a bit of hesitation from most outside of the Web3 space. This creates an opportunity however, if done right (please do it right) NFT's can be a very exciting prospect that brings in new faces to the Web3 ecosystem. I do want to stress that NFT's are not the product, they are marketing and funding for the project. A road map is essential, and a genuine follow through is required on all promises. NFT's can provide opportunities such as merch token gating with the rare items only being eligible to the NFT holders in the sport, private event invitations, the ability to enter gated voting sections of the sports app/website to have a greater say in the sport, and the final benefit is having something super cool to show off your connection to your niche sport. I believe looking at NFT's as a way to make money through trading and flipping is a dangerous activity, I'm not against it, just please don't sell your NFT's to your loyal fans and co-members of your sport as a get rich quick scheme, please pack in real utility, just my two cents.

You don't have to look far to see numerous success stories with the integration of Web3 with sports. I like to look at two main sources of inspiration, and they couldn't be any more different.

1. Socios: Being far from what I see as the ideal Web3 integration into sports, but definitely a positive none the less, Socios opened the door to the possibilities of Web3 to the mainstream football fan. Team tokens are minted and traded by the fans of a select team supported by the Socios ecosystem such as PSG, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Arsenal, Manchester City and many more. These tokens are utilized for fan engagement and contests giving fans a much deeper connection to the club they love, even if the choices are extremely surface level. What Socios mainly supplies is funding to the clubs.

1. Karate Combat: Built on the Hedera Blockchain, This is a niche sport which took the opportunity that Web3 offered and ran with it. Structured similarly to the UFC system where fighters are employed by the organisation and fight on a card system, Karate Combat utilized Web3 to give fans the ability to bet on fights without the ability to lose any tokens if the bet is incorrect as well as giving fans the ability to vote on athlete contracts and which athletes will stay as a part of the card. Karate Combat has grown to massive heights now boasting worldwide broadcasting deals and a beautifully produced final product.

Seeing the success of the initial wave of Web3 involvement in sports, it leaves a positive impact and guideline for niche sports to believe they have the opportunity to grow their sport into something great. I wouldn't be surprised in the coming years to see many sports shift their marketing and overall business plan to suit a Web3 ecosystem and audience which is better for the fans and the organisation as a whole.

The future is bright, just have to make it happen now.

Thanks - 3nvision.eth

The current issues facing niche sports are centered around a lack of visibility and funding. Competing with the current Goliath's of the sports scene in their own monopolized environment isn't a fair battle with most sports sharing investors, private equity, and global media partnerships. Apart from a miracle the Web2 sports market is all but certainly cornered.

However not all the lack of growth can be blamed on a the current state of sports. The truth is that most of the time niche sports stay on the fringes due to the sport purely being a niche interest, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, it keeps the sport real and to its roots. This only becomes an issue when funding is needed to reach a greater audience that may benefit from the sport. This is a limitation in Web2 and the current media landscape as the eyes are all that matters, sponsors won't jump into a fringe scene unless they get their return (and rightly so), investors won't jump in unless they see major profitability or stock growth in the future (which niche sports can never promise), and private equity won't even give you a glance in the first place (and you shouldn't expect one either).

Web3 Social

With a new technology, a new form of distribution is a very exciting endeavor to undertake. With he emergence of Web3 from its earliest stages new social Dapps can be found on numerous blockchain ecosystems, such as Farcaster, Lens Protocol (Orb), BlueSky and Odysee. These platforms can be leveraged to gain a first movers advantage on social apps that can be the future for the way the internet and personal ownership is heading. Using these social platforms also opens your niche sport up to a new audience of Web3 natives, who most of the time love to support any serious attempt at harnessing the Web3 technology in a positive way that both promotes the sport and the technology.

Micro Apps

With the emergence of social apps and Web3's space within that ecosystem, Micro-Apps / Web-Apps can be made to embed and implement directly through an already standing social media app, whether it be Web2 or Web3. A great example of this is Telegram. The ability to utilize the link between Telegram and the TON ecosystem allows for a niche sport to hit the ground running for as low a cost as possible, while being more discover-able than most blockchain Dapps due to the Telegram App store. With it's built in features Sports can use Telegram to launch NFTs, create an app for a select purpose within the sport, create their own token, and list their own store. Yes this does mean that the sport will be tied to a social app which is both a good and a bad thing, but as a start this is perfect in almost every way.

NFT's

A great form of fund raising and hopefully fan utility, NFT's are a great win-win for any niche sport. Unfortunately NFT's don't have the best reputation due to 90% of these projects being the epitome of all talk and no action, and this has resulted in a bit of hesitation from most outside of the Web3 space. This creates an opportunity however, if done right (please do it right) NFT's can be a very exciting prospect that brings in new faces to the Web3 ecosystem. I do want to stress that NFT's are not the product, they are marketing and funding for the project. A road map is essential, and a genuine follow through is required on all promises. NFT's can provide opportunities such as merch token gating with the rare items only being eligible to the NFT holders in the sport, private event invitations, the ability to enter gated voting sections of the sports app/website to have a greater say in the sport, and the final benefit is having something super cool to show off your connection to your niche sport. I believe looking at NFT's as a way to make money through trading and flipping is a dangerous activity, I'm not against it, just please don't sell your NFT's to your loyal fans and co-members of your sport as a get rich quick scheme, please pack in real utility, just my two cents.

You don't have to look far to see numerous success stories with the integration of Web3 with sports. I like to look at two main sources of inspiration, and they couldn't be any more different.

1. Socios: Being far from what I see as the ideal Web3 integration into sports, but definitely a positive none the less, Socios opened the door to the possibilities of Web3 to the mainstream football fan. Team tokens are minted and traded by the fans of a select team supported by the Socios ecosystem such as PSG, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Arsenal, Manchester City and many more. These tokens are utilized for fan engagement and contests giving fans a much deeper connection to the club they love, even if the choices are extremely surface level. What Socios mainly supplies is funding to the clubs.

1. Karate Combat: Built on the Hedera Blockchain, This is a niche sport which took the opportunity that Web3 offered and ran with it. Structured similarly to the UFC system where fighters are employed by the organisation and fight on a card system, Karate Combat utilized Web3 to give fans the ability to bet on fights without the ability to lose any tokens if the bet is incorrect as well as giving fans the ability to vote on athlete contracts and which athletes will stay as a part of the card. Karate Combat has grown to massive heights now boasting worldwide broadcasting deals and a beautifully produced final product.

Seeing the success of the initial wave of Web3 involvement in sports, it leaves a positive impact and guideline for niche sports to believe they have the opportunity to grow their sport into something great. I wouldn't be surprised in the coming years to see many sports shift their marketing and overall business plan to suit a Web3 ecosystem and audience which is better for the fans and the organisation as a whole.

The future is bright, just have to make it happen now.

Thanks - 3nvision.eth