National League in talks over securing NFT partner

What could possibly go wrong?

The National League are reportedly in discussions over securing an official Non-fungible token (NFT) partner. As reported by The Athletic, England's fifth tier of football is in talks to find a partner, with clubs expected to tweet about the scheme twice a week if successful. While plans have yet to be confirmed, the plans for finding an NFT partner were laid out during the league's annual dinner at Celtic Manor near Newport in Wales last week.

National League are looking at new sources of revenue streams

NFTs have been proposed as a new form of revenue stream for the league in order to help it become more competitive financially with the country's professional leagues. Clubs outside of the top four divisions in the country receive significantly less central funding from the Premier League in comparison to the 72 Football League clubs. As a result, the National League are looking to increase their different sources of revenue and have an existing sponsorship deal with Vanarama until the 2024-25 season. This was signed in 2021 and is estimated to be worth in the region of £4m. The National League managed to make its way through the pandemic, attracting an aggregate attendance of 2.5 million across its three divisions in 2021-22. Six of the fifth tier's 24 clubs managed to boast average attendances of over 5,000 throughout last season. Those were Wrexham, Stockport County, Notts County, Chesterfield, Southend United and Grimsby Town.

Cryptocurrency and NFTs has plunged in value in recent weeks

Despite the plans, the use of cryptocurrency in football remains controversial and in recent weeks both the crypto and NFT markets have experienced a crash. Meanwhile NFT projects endorsed by the likes of Paul Pogba, John Terry and Andy Robertson have all received criticism after they dropped in value due to being announced to a wide audience. Related links:

• Every footballer that has so far sold their soul to the world of NFTs
• Michael Owen broke UK law by promoting unlicensed crypto casino
• Premier League clubs ‘approve official NFT partnership’