New Zealand cricketers are in line for a huge cash windfall after signing a deal with Dream Sports in India which sponsors the Super Smash competition. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand cricketers are in line for a huge cash windfall after signing a deal with Dream Sports in India which sponsors the Super Smash competition. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand cricketers, including part-time professionals with other full-time jobs, are set for a cash windfall this month after inking a lucrative deal with an Indian digital giant.
An exclusive five-year agreement saw NZ Cricket and the NZ Cricket Players Association handing over the image rights of all 200-plus centraland domestic contracted players – both men and women – along with intellectual property like trademarks and logos, to Dream Sports, India’s top sports tech company in July last year.
The deal which landed with little fanfare includes the sale of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) – unique digital assets, often linked to an image, video or sound clip, whose ownership is authenticated by blockchain technology – giving cricket fans a chance to own a piece of New Zealand cricket history.
It means that every time an NFT linked to a Black Cap, White Fern, or domestic contracted player, is sold – often to cricket-mad Indian fantasy league players – the organisations get a cut of the money.
And the player whose card or video is exchanged gets paid an extra dividend.
With the first-year anniversary of the landmark deal this month, players – many of whom have little knowledge of NFTs or how they work – have been told to expect a tidy bonus in their bank accounts over the coming days.
A 'Bored Ape Yacht Club' NFT bought by Justin Bieber has dropped in price dramatically. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images
Even domestic players who have never played for their country and have other full-time jobs outside of sport are awaiting cheques of up to $4000.
For the likes of global superstars Kane Williamson and Amelia Kerr, it’s expected they will generate vastly more than that.
“The players are kind of fascinated in this growth and the development of fantasy cricket and the use of their images,” NZCPA chief executive Heath Mills told the Herald. “And the way we’ve structured things, they’re enjoying the fact their rights are being protected and they are being rewarded for the use of their rights. There is no confusion with the players now over who owns what, am I being looked after, or am I being exploited? It’s all very straightforward and fair.
“It’s a good thing; players are happy about that. I haven’t had any negative feedback.”
Kane Williamson is a favourite with Indian cricket fans. Photo / Photosport
Dream Sports, which sponsors the New Zealand domestic Super Smash T20 competition through its Dream 11 fantasy league, and broadcasts games on another of its subsidiaries, FanCode, also owns Rario, the world’s first cricket NFT platform. The entities are all linked, generating revenue for each other.
Dream 11 fantasy league users – which now number 190 million, up by 50 million in 12 months – can buy NFTs as tokens when entering the game, and often splash out on more digital assets for their avatars. The cricket NFTs are also bought and sold like digital versions of cardboard trading cards.
For the 2022/23 season, there were 205 players with professional contracts in New Zealand. It included 20 contracted as Black Caps, another 17 White Ferns, as well as 96 domestic men contracted players and 72 women over the Auckland, Northern Districts, Central Districts, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago associations.
Contracted Black Caps can earn between $367,196 and $523,396, with domestic men’s players earning between $75,207 and $102,707. White Ferns can make up to $163,246 a year, with top domestic women getting a maximum of $19,146. Match fees are paid extra.
Heath Mills. Photo / File
While every player gets a “solidarity-based level payment” for their rights being used by Dream Sports, those whose images are directly sold receive a secondary payment.
“That’s where the more popular players will receive more than the more run-of-the-mill players, for want of a better word,” Mills said.
However, with the deal only 12 months old, it’s not yet clear which players have been the most popular.
“We’re not going to know until next year who’s actually been used the most,” Mills said. “We just don’t know what those numbers look like yet.”
White Ferns star Amelia Kerr. Photo / Photosport
NZ Cricket won’t reveal how much the Dream Sports deal is worth, citing commercial sensitivities, but NZC commercial general manager Chris Smith admitted it was “commercially compelling”.
The money is locked in, with NZC, who splits the revenue 50/50 with the players, getting a minimum guarantee every year.
“We negotiated certainty for New Zealand Cricket and the players over the five years. Regardless of any scepticism or commentary in the wider market, it was a good outcome for New Zealand Cricket,” Smith said. “It was an opportunity that existed at the time, and we certainly wanted to make the most of the market conditions. Whether it’s innovative or not, we certainly think we’re doing deals in the right place.”
Professional sports leagues, teams, and events, including the NBA in the USA, Germany’s Bundesliga football league, and Cricket Australia have all backed NFTs to help generate new revenue streams.
All Blacks great Dan Carter has co-founded a Kiwi NFT studio and marketplace that last year aced a deal with the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club to produce a line of “digital masterpieces that celebrate the rich history and legacy of Wimbledon”.
But since their inception in 2014, NFTs have been a divisive topic, with some believing they are the future of investments, citing the sale of a digital collage by the visual artist Beeple for $69 million, while an animated Gif of Nyan Cat – a 2011 meme of a flying pop-tart cat – sold for more than $500,000.
At its peak, the global NFT market was said to be worth a staggering $41 billion, but it suffered a dramatic crash last year. A “Bored Ape Yacht Club” NFT that pop star Justin Bieber bought for $1.3m last year is now reportedly worth just $70,000.
“It will be fascinating to see how it all unfolds,” says a pragmatic Mills.
“We’re all just waiting to see what happens with the NFT marketplace and I’m not convinced it’s going to be as significant as all the hype last year. My gut feeling is that the use of an NFT to participate in a [Fantasy] game or other utility will probably be where the value will be in the years ahead, as opposed to the NFT in and of itself.”
Kurt Bayer is a South Island correspondent based in Christchurch. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2011.
