Hello and welcome to this month’s edition of the READY Read! Giving you the lowdown on all things Web 3.0 and Women’s Sport. Here’s what’s in store:
READY Spotlight on Web 3.0 and (Women’s) Sport: A Case for Regen.
READY Trailblazers - Our Top 3 Women Innovating in Web 3.0 x Sport.
READY Recommendations: Read, Listen, Watch.
READY Roundup - the latest from the READY team.
WEB 3.0 AND (WOMEN’S) SPORT: A CASE FOR REGEN
We were recently invited by the Blockchain Alliance Europe to be part of a panel that peaked our interest. The title of the panel was “Web 3.0 in Sports: Lessons We Learned”, with the description, “The web3 industry has experienced massive hype in the last few years, followed by consolidation and value creation. In this panel, we'll learn about the good practices and mistakes in implementing Web 3.0 technologies”.
This panel topic is 100% on point and timely.
Web 3.0 experimentation in sport has been on a rocky old road these past few years. No one has analyzed this better than our good friend, Pet Berisha, founder of SportingCrpyto. Women’s sport (typically without the luxury of millions to splash around, nor with as much commercial interest from big players), however, has been much more protected from such volatility. In fact, we hold firm that some of the best Web 3.0 experimentation in sport has taken place - albeit small-scale - from women athletes and organizations. (We love showcasing these examples in this newsletter!)
Today, in 2024, there is a different feel in the Web 3.0 space, yet again.
There is anticipation about what’s to come. And for the sports industry, there are indeed lessons learnt and more consensus around the idea that blockchain should be thought about in terms of how it might underpin value creation.
We, at READY, are bullish about - and advocate for - sport’s adoption of the philosophy and principles of one particular movement within Web 3.0, which is called “regen”. “Regen”, pronounced “ree-gen”, is short for “regenerative”. It is the practice of contributing more to society than is extracted, for which blockchain engineers have programmable solutions.
Regen inspires us to think about what the possibilities are for regenerative practices in the modern technological era - and for sport.
Dr. Jacob Naish, one of the world’s sharpest thinkers and doers in the football industry, started exploring the possibility of regen in and for football. In fact, in 2021 he coined the term “regen football” and wrote thought leadership pieces on it.
The way that Jacob was thinking about regen sport was as an evolution of “sport for good” - as an open-source blueprint for sport to be automatically regenerative for planet and people, within a system whereby financial profit can only be balanced alongside social, cultural, and ecological profit.
Currently, the sports industry wrestles with dilemmas or contradictions when it comes to business growth vis-a-vis society and planet restoration. As such, the regen version of sport is absolutely an exciting one, albeit it utopian-like at times.
For women’s sport, at a pivotal time of professionalization and growth, there is a case to be made for adopting regen philosophy and practices. Would it be more straightforward to program them in, while investment and business models are in nascent stages? We think the answer could be yes.
So, while there is consensus that Web 3.0 did indeed undergo a massive hype cycle in sport, followed by consolidation and creation of value, we also believe that there is much more for the sports industry to discover and learn about Web 3.0, especially by taking inspiration from the regen movement.
If you’re curious about all things economics, sociology, politics, and sustainability, and want to get under the skin of what the regen movement in Web 3.0 is all about, then an excellent place to start is the Green Pill podcast. It will reveal to you an entirely different interpretation and vision for Web 3.0 and crypto that sport, for the most part, has yet to reveal to us.
READY TRAILBLAZERS
This month we are learning from and inspired by these trailblazing women:
Sofie Fella, elite athlete, women’s fitness advocate, and client partner at Manna Partners, who are pioneers in helping brands thrive in the play economy of gaming and e-sports.
Terri Lynam, director in sport and events, studied AI at Oxford University and is miles ahead in terms of AI and AI ethics in sport - especially around safeguarding.
Swathi Bhojaraj, founder of Propelathon with an extraordinary journey - including Indian national team fencer, lawyer, and former La Liga metaverse activator. She also hosts the Athlete to Executive podcast.
READY RECOMMENDATIONS
Read
Check out the RugbyDAO Manifesto. RugbyDAO is building a co-creation and coordination operating system that leverages all the properties Web3 has to offer: global, transparent, immutable and programmable. They call it the RugbyOS®.
“This is our chance to build the Rugby we want, not the Rugby we inherited.”
Listen
A fascinating conversation featuring Shannon Lanigan and Michael Lewkowitz, All in for Sport about the possibilities of DAO infrastructure and coordination tools for community sport. Hear how they are using Web 3.0 tech to enabling people to come together to contribute to a shared mission, power structures, to reimagine access to capital, and coordination tools.
Watch
READY Chief Catalyst, Lucy Mills, ran a session on AI in Sport for the Women’s Sport Collective. A staggering 325 women working in the sport registered, with excellent engagement and questions!
READY ROUND-UP
READY in Paris! READY participated as a mentor in a EU program, “DigiFit”, led by the International Sport and Culture Association. DigiFit is connecting tech solutions with grassroots sport organizations throughout Europe to increase their digital literacy and capacity. Read more about the program here.
READY in Barcelona! During the exciting week of the Mobile World Congress, we teamed up with SportingCrypto, Ethermail, and L+R to host a social event on 27 February. SportingCrypto is the number one sports business and Web 3.0 newsletter, which also runs a podcast and high quality events designed to bring people together to create the future of sports with Web 3.0.
READY in Paris (again!) We are running a Sport and Innovation module with business students at Emlyon Business School, with a focus on design thinking in project teams to design sport-based projects that have a positive social impact / contribute to the SDGs.
READY in London! Founding Advisor, Preeti Shetty, participated in the Commonwealth Debate on artificial intelligence in sport for development at Marlborough House.
READY on Instagram! Check us out here! We are embarking on a new look, new era, to bring to life READY’s activities. Shout out to Heloisa de Souza!
READY on the Sport For Development Platform! This month, we launched the Innovation Series that will bring expert insights on tech, innovation, and impact to global practitioners of sport for development. You can join the platform, it’s free!
Confused about Artificial Intelligence and how it relates to sport? Don’t worry, we have you covered! Our new 2.5 hour online course will make sure you know what AI is, where it comes from, what the different types of AI are, and how it’s being used in sport.
Are you curious to learn more about Web 3.0 and sport? If you haven’t already done so, sign up for the READY intro course on Web 3.0 and Sport (3-hours total).
If you have any suggestions for future editions of READY Read, or projects / trailblazers you’d like us to feature, please do get in touch with us at team@readysportglobal.com.
And that’s a wrap! Until next month!
READY team :)