Sorare is a combination of the world of fantasy sports, blockchain technology, and investing. I think that is quite novel, right? I’ve certainly not heard of anything that resembles that business model, but then I have never played “fantasy football” and the like. All that to say, I found the idea intriguing and decided to dive in and learn more. A huge part of this decision was that I have a client in the sports world, and figured it would be a logical thing to invest some time and money learning how the sports industry works with a very real world example.
Sorare currently offers Fantasy Football, Basketball, and Baseball – the first of which features a huge host of football clubs (and their respective players) while the latter two (as of writing this) are only including the NBA and MLB respectively. In time, I hope they branch out into other sports, like Tennis, Cricket, and Rugby. Mainly because I find those three so interesting – because I played them through school. Of course I also swam and did athletics and squash, too – but I can’t imagine there is any way someone would bet on swimmers in an upcoming FINA swim meet. I am happy to be proven wrong.
First of all, let’s deal with the name:
Is it “So. Rare.” ? Or, is it: “Soraaaaaaaaare” – ie. a one word sound? I don’t know, but from what I can tell it’s a silly name and most folks go with the former.
how does it work?
Wow, this is a hard thing to answer, but I will try make it as simple as possible. Imagine you are interested in Premier League football and the team you follow is Arsenal. You can then pick five players from that team to compete in the next football game they are playing in, and depending how they perform, you get rewards for their game day results. Completed passes, defense, a yellow card, a goal, or a shot on goal – and more. Each player is scored based on their individual performance, and technically a player can get a red card and do terribly, and another in the same team can score two goals, and have two or three assists and do a 100-fold better. Combine all five scores and if you do well enough you earn a cash prize, or rewards which range from pretty useless things like an entry to a game (ie. not a physical game but a virtual fantasy match versus some other random user), or some digital merch (like a badge) or even other players cards – which can be valuable.
Of course, this in no way explains it in detail enough, and probably the hardest thing about getting into it is that if you buy cheap players, they peform poorly and you win nothing, but if you have a lot of money you buy the best players in the league, and they naturally perform well, and you get great rewards – ie. the rich get richer. Important to mention at this juncture is that a) your team must comprise players in all positions: one goalkeeper, one defender, one midfielder, one forward, and then one other non-goalkeeper – so there must be that divesity. And, also that if a player is very good they are “expensive” to buy in terms of their ranking points. So maybe a Lionel Messi is 70 points, and the total of all players must total about 250 points (ie. averaging about 50 – it differs by content, sometimes it’s 220, 250, 260 etc) so you must choose wisely, and ideally get players who about to peak.
For the purposes of this article, and my time and yours, it’s also worth noting that this is all found online on their website, or on forums in the darkest corners of Reddit and what-have-you, so I won’t bother trying to outdo other writers. What I can say though is that the idea that instead of just playing a Fantasy Football league for fun and winning a prize ($10 Amazon voucher?) – you can not only do that, but also be investing in the players “brand”. So imagine you spotted Ronaldo when he was 16 and bought his card for a measly $0.10 – fast forward ten years later and perhaps his “player card” is eventually worth $500?! You’ve played a game, and made money – assuming you sell the card, that is.
And that really is the most clever part to the project: instead of owning “baseball cards” (in South Africa it was more like Rugby or cricket cards) like so many of us did in our youth, you now own something digital which is less likely to be misplaced, or stolen.
Should you invest and buy some cards and play?
I’d say only if you follow soccer/football and have a genuine interest in the game, for the next ten or more years. Then it’s worth adding to the enjoyment of the sport by investing in up and coming players, and diversifying your investment portoflio, too.