A Swiss non-profit organization, The NEAR Foundation, announced a groundbreaking partnership with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to bring cricket fans closer to the sport using Web3 technology.
The NEAR Foundation will become the ICC’s official blockchain partner until the end of 2025. Their collaboration aims to boost fan engagement, expand the sport’s reach to new audiences, and deliver lasting value to cricket enthusiasts.
The first project is a strategy game for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, where fans create a dream team, collect points, and redeem prizes based on the real game performance of their pick players.
Every player will have the opportunity to make decisions in three crucial areas: batting, bowling, and fielding. As the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup progresses, each player’s team will earn points based on the actual on-field performance of the players they’ve selected.
A leaderboard will keep tabs on the performance of each fan, and those who excel each week will receive rewards such as match tickets, exclusive events, Men’s Cricket World Cup merchandise, and various other prizes.
The partnership will launch its first collaboration as a part of the World Cup in India on October 5. In the future, they will enable the goal of developing a fan ‘passport’ to safely record their cricket experiences online and offline.
NEAR Foundation CEO Chris Donovan stated, “We are extremely excited to be working with the ICC in this multi year deal. This is one of our biggest partnership announcements to date and solidifies our reputation as a go-to blockchain technology provider in the sporting world.”
This collaboration with ICC and NEAR has the potential to increase fan engagement and utilize blockchain technology to make cricket an interactive and exciting game.
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