Author: Julian La Picque, member of Forbes Councils. Julian La Picque is the Chief Financial Officer of the Chiliz group, and Chiliz is the founder of Fan Tokens.
The total global value of professional sports teams is estimated to be around 500 billion US dollars, yet hardly any of this financial value allows the fans who contribute to creating that value to participate in it. Ownership shares of top clubs are mainly traded privately among a few wealthy individuals and institutional investors. Meanwhile, the supporters who fill the stadiums and drive broadcasting agreements often only receive tickets and merchandise, with little chance of truly holding future financial interests in the clubs.
This gap is narrowing. With the evolution of infrastructure for private asset holding and transfer, scarce assets, increasingly important media copyrights, a continuously expanding global audience, and sustained fan loyalty, professional sports have become an attractive asset class. Tokenization may now create new opportunities for expanding this form of ownership participation.
Fans are interested in partial ownership.
A survey conducted in 2026 by OnePoll among 5,000 football fans in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and South Korea, commissioned by Chiliz, revealed that fans are indeed interested in team ownership. 77% of the respondents stated that having financial interests in the club would make them feel more connected to it, and 72% said they would be interested in purchasing a digital asset that offers a form of partial ownership.
Of course, these investment interest indicators should not be confused with actual needs, but it is worth noting that nearly one-third of the respondents are already paying attention to their club's annual financial reports.
Institutional capital is entering the sports sector.
A wave of billionaires and investment firms are buying sports teams, including a record $12.5 billion deal for the Lakers, a consortium led by Jeff Bezos acquiring 40% of Liverpool's shares, the Padres selling for $3.9 billion, and a nearly $9.6 billion deal for the Seahawks.
The motivations of institutional investors and fans are clearly different, but both groups represent a broader transformation: sports franchises are increasingly being viewed not only as cultural entities but also as financial assets.
Can fans move from participation to ownership?
In 2024, Watford Football Club became the first club to sell genuine digital equity to its fans, but at that time, there was no regulatory framework that connected this with other teams or jurisdictions. Although this case did not establish a new category of liquid assets, it demonstrated that the technical and regulatory elements required to split ownership of sports teams can be put together for fans who are interested.
Digital fan assets have helped to elevate the relationship between supporters and teams beyond just tickets and merchandise, introducing digital interactions, participation, and rewards. However, participation does not equate to ownership. Tokens that provide practical functions and access rights are fundamentally different from regulated securities that represent the economic interests of teams.
What exactly has tokenization changed?
True financial innovation is not just about putting club equity onto the blockchain. It has the potential to change the minimum investment requirements, distribution models, and the transferability of minority stakes. Segmentation can allow for the rights to a franchise worth billions of dollars to be represented in smaller units; whereas regulated digital infrastructure can make it easier for investors to enter multiple markets and simplify ownership records, transfers, and other corporate actions. For clubs, this could open up new sources of minority capital.
However, tokenization does not create liquidity out of thin air, nor does it turn a poor investment into a good one. Even if a security can be digitally transferred, there may still be few buyers, large bid-ask spreads, and poor price discovery. Tokenized minority interests are still minority interests; investors still need to assess valuation, distribution, dilution, governance rights, protection for minority shareholders, legal ownership structure, as well as the underlying economic condition of the club.
Will this become a testing ground for tokenization in the private equity market?
Sports possess scarce assets, a global audience, communities with strong emotional engagement, and an underlying corporate value of hundreds of billions of dollars. If tokenization can demonstrate its ability to bring about meaningful capital formation and genuine secondary market liquidity in the sports sector, then its impact could extend beyond sports itself and support the adoption of tokenized assets in the broader economy.
The real test is not whether clubs can move their equity onto the blockchain, but whether they can establish well-functioning capital markets around these assets.
The information provided in this article does not constitute investment, tax, or financial advice. For your specific circumstances, please consult a licensed professional for advice.
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