Opinion: Dima Saksonov, Founder and CEO of Atleta Network
The sports industry has become the mainstream instant distribution channel for blockchain. Leagues, teams, and venues run verifiable ticketing, identity, and rights management systems as mission-critical infrastructure operating at stadium scale.
This shift has positioned sports organizations as the definitive buyers for integrating blockchain into the everyday fan experience.
In the early cycles, cryptocurrencies sought shortcuts to making a name for themselves in the mainstream, with the sports industry (eagerly looking for new sources of income) being the first to embrace this novel financial idea. As crypto sponsorship in sports reaches a national level, naming rights agreements have resulted in the exchange’s logo appearing on NBA arenas.
While this increased awareness of the cryptocurrency brand, the focus continued to be on visibility rather than embedding real, tangible value within the sports ecosystem itself. Since the last cycle, follow-through has become an operational challenge, including preventing ticket fraud, verifiable player data, smarter fan engagement, transparent contracts, and more.
Solving real problems on and off the field
Sports are built on business efficiency. In this cycle, the supply side has finally caught up. The blockchain team is shipping production-ready ticketing, identity, and payment modules. A practical path forward is for clubs to consolidate into a single dedicated network that can be standardized across venues and partners. This will ultimately allow leagues to integrate these systems into stadium operations, unlock new revenue streams and deepen fan engagement through transparent and immutable technology.
Blockchain-based ticketing curbs fraud and enforces secondary market rules. Verifiable on-chain data supports transparent athlete metrics for scouting and fantasy. And smart contracts automate multi-party agreements for sponsorship and endorsements. Analysts predict that the sports industry blockchain market will grow from approximately $2.05 billion in 2024 to $10 billion by 2035.
Sealed, single-purpose products cannot meet the league’s requirements. Leagues require a standardized payments layer with one policy surface, one pricing model, and one observability stack. A single network purpose-built for sport allows fans to use one account on official team apps, while clubs connect to the same compliant infrastructure for ticketing, loyalty and payments.
The result is a unified loyalty identity that is anchored to a single network and recognized across participating leagues and clubs. Digital collectibles and rewards reside within one wallet and one marketplace rail, increasing liquidity, data integrity, supportability, and user trust.
While important use cases such as tickets, data trails, loyalty, and rights management are clear, there is still a lack of robust prototypes in the field. This gap highlights the need for production-grade modules that are audited for privacy and compliance.
Governance and integrity workflows are also changing. Blockchain architecture enhances the integrity utilized for doping control and credential verification, ensuring audit tamper-proofing and access control across the organization. In practice, this means more transparency in how athlete data is stored and faster verification of staff credentials at major events.
Related: Fan tokens provide stability, NFTs do not
Fans don’t have to learn new tools. Secure mobile tickets to unlock turnstiles, digital collectibles to redeem for seat upgrades and verifiable votes for club initiatives are familiar action wrapped in better rails. Today, the fan wire disappeared. Blockchain-backed tickets can feel exactly like regular tickets. Open your email, flash the QR code, and go through the turnstiles.
You don’t need to know how QR codes work or that email itself works on different protocols to easily use all three layers. The chain sounds in the background, but the experience remains familiar. The enduring lesson is that product-market fit lies in repeatable, embedded interactions.
The excitement of sports reaches beyond the typical cryptocurrency user profile to fans of all ages and geographies. When secure mobile tickets, verifiable collectibles, and loyalty mechanisms exist within official team apps, the chain acts as an invisible rail that meets people where they already are. Stadium routines like entry scanning, seat upgrades, and post-game rewards become recurring on-chain interactions that grow more familiar each week.
where value occurs
Budgets are starting to shift from flashy sponsorships to multi-year software and payment agreements that cover every match day, including ticket issuance, access control, royalty accrual and rights accounting.
Vendors that demonstrate measurable reductions in ticket fraud, predictable secondary market royalties, and rapid performance incentive payment logic will win league-wide contracts. Procurement favors a single network that integrates with existing fan databases and stadium turnstiles, hides wallet complexity within official apps, and provides auditable data on demand to regulators.
This restructures the way we determine “winning” chains. Venue-scale throughput in narrow windows is important. Think hundreds of thousands of scans before and after kickoff, as well as the privacy guarantee of passing a data protection audit. A common payment layer reduces risk and simplifies vendor management.
The stack should be modular on a single chain. That means standards for pluggable data availability, configurable permissions, and verifiable credentials that are recognized across the network without fragmenting the fan journey. Ultimately, a good solution delivers on three core promises: transparency, automation, and verifiable payments.
Sports is no longer just a marketing vehicle for cryptocurrencies. They are the testing ground where blockchain becomes an essential infrastructure. Fans are already interacting with technology, often without realizing it, when they buy tickets, vote on team decisions, and exchange verified digital collectibles.
The next phase of implementation will be driven by practical outcomes that will make venues safer, habitats cleaner and fan journeys smoother. This is the kind of incremental benefit that accumulates over seasons.
A chain that established itself in stadium infrastructure has found its way into mainstream consumer life.
Opinion: Dima Saksonov, Founder and CEO of Atleta Network.
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be, and should not be taken as, legal or investment advice. The views, ideas, and opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.