Beyond new revenue opportunities, the model gives FIFA more visibility into who ultimately attends its events. In the traditional ticketing ecosystem, much of this information is controlled by secondary markets.
“The real administrator of these tickets, FIFA, has no idea who people are buying from,” Carbonaro said. “This data can be found at SeatGeek, StubHub, Ticketmaster, Vivid Seats.” He argued that FIFA Collect’s RTB and RTT system gives FIFA better insight into how ticket rights change hands within its own ecosystem, rather than relying on third-party platforms that typically control the customer relationship.
With RTBs and RTTs, FIFA can better track how fans move through the ticketing process while keeping personal information off-chain and using blockchain records as a verification mechanism.
This data component could ultimately prove as valuable as the ticketing functionality itself. Sports organizations are increasingly viewing direct fan relationships as strategic assets, especially as AI tools give more value to first-party data.
It remains to be seen whether FIFA’s ticketing model will become a model for future tournaments. Critics might argue that introducing tradable purchasing rights simply creates another layer between fans and tickets.
Either way, the World Cup offers a glimpse of where blockchain adoption could be headed. Instead of asking consumers to adopt crypto, projects like FIFA Collect attempt to hide it completely. And for Avalanche, this may be the most important test of all.
