Author: Julian La Picque, member of Forbes Councils. Julian La Picque is the Chief Financial Officer of Chiliz Group, the creator of Fan Tokens.
The global total value of professional sports teams is estimated at around $500 billion, yet almost none of this financial value is accessible to the fans who help create it. Ownership stakes in top clubs are primarily traded privately among a small number of wealthy individuals and institutional investors, while the supporters who fill the stadiums and drive broadcasting deals often receive only tickets and merchandise, with little to no opportunity to hold genuine financial stakes in the future of the clubs.
This gap is narrowing. As infrastructure for holding and transferring private assets evolves, the scarcity of assets, the growing importance of media rights, expanding global audiences, and enduring fan loyalty have collectively helped establish professional sports as an attractive asset class. Tokenization may now create new opportunities to broaden ownership participation.
Fans are interested in partial ownership.
A survey commissioned by Chiliz and conducted by OnePoll in 2026 of 5,000 football fans in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and South Korea found that fans are indeed interested in team ownership. Seventy-seven percent of respondents said that having a financial stake in a club would make them feel more connected to it, and 72% indicated they would be interested in purchasing a digital asset offering fractional ownership.
Of course, these investment interest indicators should not be confused with actual demand, but it is worth noting that nearly one-third of respondents are already following their club's annual financial reports.
Institutional capital is entering the sports industry.
A wave of billionaires and investment firms are buying teams, including a record-breaking $12.5 billion Lakers deal, a consortium including Jeff Bezos acquiring a 40% stake in Liverpool, a $3.9 billion sale of the Padres, and a nearly $9.6 billion Seahawks transaction.
The motivations of institutional investors and fans are clearly different, but both developments point to a broader shift: sports franchises are increasingly being viewed not only as cultural institutions 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 the time, there was no regulatory pathway connecting this initiative to other clubs or jurisdictions. Although this case did not establish a liquid asset class, it demonstrated that the technical and regulatory components for splitting ownership of a sports team can be assembled for interested fans.
Digital fan assets have helped supporters move beyond tickets and merchandise to engage in digital interactions, participation, and rewards. However, participation does not equate to ownership. Tokens that provide practical functionality and access are fundamentally different from regulated securities representing economic interests in the team.
What exactly has tokenization changed?
True financial innovation isn't just about putting club equity on a blockchain. It has the potential to transform minimum investment sizes, distribution models, and the transferability of minority stakes. Tokenization enables ownership interests in a billion-dollar franchise to be represented in smaller units, while regulated digital infrastructure allows investors easier access across multiple markets and simplifies recordkeeping, transfers, and other corporate actions. For clubs, this could unlock new sources of minority capital.
However, tokenization does not create liquidity out of thin air, nor does it turn poor investments into good ones. A security that can be digitally transferred may still have few buyers, wide bid-ask spreads, and poor price discovery. Tokenized minority stakes remain minority stakes; investors must still evaluate valuation, allocation, dilution, governance rights, minority shareholder protections, legal ownership structures, and the underlying economics of the club.
Will this become a testing ground for tokenization in the private market?
Sports possess scarce assets, a global audience, deeply emotionally engaged communities, and underlying enterprise values in the hundreds of billions of dollars. If tokenization can demonstrate its ability to generate meaningful capital formation and genuine secondary market liquidity in the sports industry, its impact could extend beyond sports itself and support the broader economic adoption of tokenized assets.
The real test is not whether clubs can move equity onto the blockchain, but whether they can build well-functioning capital markets around these assets.
The information provided in this article does not constitute investment, tax, or financial advice. Please consult a licensed professional for advice tailored to your specific situation.
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