Fan Controlled Football (FCF) saw a successful story unfold for the league in their first season, as they made headlines with a unique style of play, and giving power to the fans.
Arena football has been around for quite some time, but the FCF revolutionized how it was played; putting the fans in control of what players were on their favorite team, and what plays were called during gameplay.
Coming off that success in 2021, Fan Controlled Football returns to the field in spring of 2022, bringing four new teams with them. This is all made possible because of the massive funding made available to the FCF through some sponsorship deals.
FCF Raises $40 Million In ‘Series A Funding’
It was revealed on Fan Controlled Football’s twitter account that the organization has raised $40 million in what they call ‘Series A Funding’:
We’re beyond excited to announce that we’ve raised $40M in Series A Funding!
Season v2.0 takes place this spring and we're expanding from 4 –> 8 teams.
Head to https://t.co/w4w2129N9q for more info. pic.twitter.com/UKEsckIFME
— Fan Controlled Sports (@fancontrolled) January 12, 2022
This is a large number for an arena football league, especially for just one year. And, considering this is ‘Series A Funding’, we can expect even more cash to be coming into the league at some point.
Leading web3 investors @animocabrands and @Delphi_Digital have helped fund the expansion of the league through The @FCFBallerz Collective, which enables NFT holders to have more exclusive control over their new favorite team.
— Fan Controlled Sports (@fancontrolled) January 12, 2022
Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital, two leading digital web investors, are leading the charge – and we should expect to see some of their involvement in the league moving forward.
FCF Announces Four New Teams For Season V2.0
Fan Controlled Football is also bringing in four new teams to the league, but they are a bit different than the four original teams.
With the new franchises, they will be powered by NFT’s, allowing fans to buy into the league with “The Ballerz Collective”.
We ain't goin' nowhere. pic.twitter.com/EqTyc06cBb
— Fan Controlled Sports (@fancontrolled) January 12, 2022
These new teams include: Team 8oki, Team Kod, Team Bored Apes, and Team Gutter Cats. These aren’t the official team names, however, they are the placeholder names for the ownership groups.
Four more teams to name.
Start getting those ideas ready.
— Fan Controlled Sports (@fancontrolled) January 12, 2022
At some point, fans will be able to create, and then vote on, potential name ideas and logos for these new teams, as they did with the original four.
That being said, only the fans that buy into the 8,888 unique, programmatically generated Ballerz will be able to manage and call plays for those teams. Essentially, fans who buy into the NFT idea will own a unique Ballerz Collective, granting them a piece of ownership of whatever team they bought into.
Final Thoughts
While this type of league is not for everyone, Fan Controlled Football is providing more opportunities for athletes, and also creating connections with fans in ways never seen before.
As the season approaches, we expect to hear a lot more about how NFT’s will tie into the ownership of teams, and what the league plans to do during their second season.
Did you enjoy the FCF’s first season? What do you think of the league expanding to eight teams? Let us know down in the comments below, or join the conversation on Discord!