Sport NFTs in the Chinese Market: A Qualitative Study

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are generally identified as collectibles based on the Blockchain technology. Companies use these digital assets as a new source of revenue. The football industry, in particular, is taking use of this new kind of digital merchandising to promote football players’ cards to fans all over the world. The motivating factors for collectibles have been extensively explored in academic literature; however, little is known about how digital users perceive this kind of new collectibles, particularly football NFTs. Traditionally, football fanatics collect sports memorabilia for the sake of fandom; however, collectors in other fields purchase memorabilia as an investment. As a result, we would like to know if Sport NFTs in China are considered an investment or just a fan collector, given that NFTs are a digital asset with a price that may grow or decrease based on demand or the rarity of the item. We also conducted a geographic study to determine where users in China are most willing to purchase Sports NFTs. We carried out a qualitative study about football NFT purchase intention in the Chinese market, through social media users on Sina Weibo, the second most influential Chinese social network. The findings show that 76% of respondents perceive Football NFTs as traditional Sport collectibles, with fandom as the primary motivation for purchasing. Furthermore, the higher the city’s Tier level, the greater the willingness to purchase. Moreover, Tier 1 cities are the locations, where fandom is the most important buying motivator. These findings might help international football teams advertise their NFTs more effectively in China.