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French Tennis Federation
An NFT model was on the federation’s table. I challenged it, and widened what the federation understood Web3 could do for a sport.
Nizzar Ben Chekroune worked with the French Tennis Federation in 2023 through Berexia, which employed him to carry its Crypto, NFT, SBT and Metaverse work for clients. In discussions with the federation’s technology team in April 2023 he challenged an NFT model that had been put to the federation and broadened its understanding of Web3, drawing on his advisory work with Stan Wawrinka on Ballman.
- Relationship
- Client engagement through Berexia
- Role
- Web3 strategy and NFT model assessment
- Period
- 2023
- Where
- France
- With
- French Tennis Federation (Fédération Française de Tennis), Berexia
- Attribution
- Through Berexia (employment), before Quantum Branding
A model on the table
In April 2023 the French Tennis Federation was looking at an NFT model that had been put in front of it. I came in through Berexia, which employed me that year to carry its Crypto, NFT, SBT and Metaverse work for clients. I prepared the material for the meeting and joined the discussions with the federation’s technology team.
My role was to examine the model and rethink it before the federation committed to a format. I challenged what had been proposed, and I widened the federation’s understanding of what Web3 could do for a sport, beyond a single collection.
What I brought from Ballman
I came to the federation having done this work from the player’s side. Earlier that year, through Berexia, I had also worked with Fabrice Santoro. I had advised Stan Wawrinka since 2021, from before Ballman’s launch, through its first mint and the sell-out that followed, and through the decisions that came with his name.
What I took from it is specific. A collection in sport holds when the audience is built before the product. It holds when buyers understand what they own and why they would keep it. And it holds when the person or institution behind it is present, not only licensing a name.
The federation’s team knew Stan’s work with Ballman. In those conversations I spoke for what he had built and for the way he had brought its community together.
A federation is not a player
Those lessons do not transfer automatically. Stan’s value in Web3 came from a person a community could follow, ask questions of and believe. A federation carries a sport, its competitions, its clubs, its licensed players and its history, and any NFT model it adopts speaks for all of them at once.
So the questions change. Which of those assets does the federation have the standing to put on-chain? For which audience? With what reason to hold? A model built for a market moment answers none of them. A model built from them changes what the federation is actually offering.
Challenging a model already on the table is less comfortable than executing it. It is often where the useful work is.
What I take forward
I can sit with an institution that has already been handed an answer and take it back to the question. What I had learned beside an athlete became judgment a federation could use.
Sources
Related work
- BerexiaAn employment role building Berexia’s emerging-technology capabilities through client projects and team education.
- Fabrice SantoroEmerging-technology and Web3 work with Fabrice Santoro
- Stan Wawrinka / BallmanI advised Stan before Ballman launched, again when its first mint fell short, and on Web3 and the offers made to his name.
- BaccaratA crystal house asking how far to go into Web3. I gave it research, a direction, partners and a roadmap it adopted.