National Football League Union Partners With Blockchain Startup

A union from a major U.S. football league is partnering with a blockchain startup to help its athletes license products on a decentralized network.

Announced Tuesday, the National Football League Players Association plans to encourage its members to provide commentary, livestreams and other content for the FanChain platform, thereby earning revenue for themselves outside the games they play, the union announced Tuesday.

To that end, the NFLPA has purchased a minority stake in blockchain startup SportsCastr, the company behind FanChain.

"When you look at blockchain, and obviously currencies have been the most ubiquitous use of blockchain today, but when we look at tokenized assets or tokens or , we look at the different ways we can try to create products that are going to be sustainable and long-lasting," he said.

"Because of the decentralized nature of the platform, anyone can get on it, players can get on it. NFL players are really interested in blockchain, in crypto if a player calls me and asks 'how do I get involved' I'd suggest he go on SportsCastr and start generating tokens."

The platform won't be limited to just football players, either.

The NFLPA first started considering working with a blockchain startup several months ago, as part of its OneTeam Collective - the union's venture capital arm.

"I'm a big believer in blockchain and I think it will revolutionize our industry, sports, like it may have revolutionized industries like food," he said.

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