Blockchain + Baseball...great commentary on the technological use cases of blockchain in professional sports.
Areas I think will be fundamentally imp... Read More
What are your thoughts?
About me
Professionally I am dedicated to delivering innovative financial opportunities to sports fans while assisting sports companies, athletes, and charitable organizations raise capital. In late 2016 I co-founded Global Sports Inc. with the objective of connecting sports fans with sports products, charities, athletes & sports companies seeking to raise capital. At the age of 20 began my career on Wall Street as a leveraged finance investment banker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Worked alongside the brightest minds in the financial industry, advising corporations on capital raising, debt restructuring, leveraged buyouts, mergers & acquisitions. Born and raised in the NY metropolitan area, lifelong Yankees & NY Giants fan. Baseball cards were my first hustle, I began collecting, trading and memorizing the back of them at the age of five. Graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in Finance & Accounting.
eSports has greatly benefitted from leveraging blockchain technology, will traditional sports be next?
Rex Ericksonwow talk about growth where is my Atari
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over 7 years ago
What are your thoughts?
Can anyone even comprehend this level of absurdity by the NCAA?
What do you all think about this?
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Quote from Excerpt:... Read More
Troy RuedigerAlso, this... https://twitter.com/troy_ruediger/status/911076914189627392 NCAA 👎 incomprehensible levels of absurdity haha
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over 7 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinThat is so spot on.
Basically the NCAA is saying...its ok for you to get a couple hundred thousand in debt as a student but don't try to do anything for yourself that won't ultimately benefit our bottom-line.
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over 7 years ago
Troy RuedigerHave you seen this doc? Lots of insightful info in here, I had the chance to meet the director and some of the athletes they interview. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3057718/
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over 7 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinI haven't seen it. I'll add it to my to-watch list. I have a feeling its going to make me quite angry though haha
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over 7 years ago
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over 7 years ago
Troy RuedigerK Sires when you do any of your talks with high school student athletes do you discuss the absurdity of the NCAA ever?
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over 7 years ago
K SiresTroy Ruediger Lol honestly, nothing would make me happier, but I don't...I try to keep it educational and explain how to handle the NCAA. They're INSANE though. They hold back so m... Read More
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over 7 years ago
Troy Ruedigerhaha definitely, i'll check it out! I mentioned this doc earlier in this thread http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3057718/ have you seen it?
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over 7 years ago
Rex Erickson$995.6 Millions last year along in revenues from TV and Product rights and how much does a student atlethe make a desk and chair and I almostforgot if you are lucky dining card and... Read More
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over 7 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinIts a joke. I have heard every argument from the other side...Yes most NCAA teams don't generate profit, yes the athlete is getting a "free" education, etc...
Fact of the matter r... Read More
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over 7 years ago
What are your thoughts?
If you're looking for a way to support Houston, we're supporting the Greater Houston Boys & Girls Club.
Donate as little as $1.
Our 2.5% fees cover... Read More
What are your thoughts?
I'm working on an article exploring all of the potential use cases of blockchain & cryptocurrency as it relates to the world of sports.
Any thoughts, ideas or specific areas you'd like me to explore?
Troy RuedigerIgli, Erik, Richard, Ari wanted to get the conversation going... Super pumped about this! Any thoughts on other members of the community or people it would be good to speak to and gather information from regarding this?
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almost 8 years ago
Troy RuedigerTaylor, are you connected to Unikrn by any chance? Would really love to have Rahul Sood host a live chat with us! (*see above for context☝️)
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almost 8 years ago
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almost 8 years ago
Zac GloverI'm not going to lie, blockchain/cryptocurrency is definitely not an area that I'm very informed/knowledgable.
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almost 8 years ago
Zac GloverIf I get some research done on the topic and come up with some interesting points/angles, I'll be sure to share.
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almost 8 years ago
Troy Ruedigerawesome dude thank you! To be honest with you its not necessarily our forte either but I think theres a smart way to leverage our community to help gather info and identify some op... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
I am always keen to follow any tech conversations, as this could be the first steps to sorting out "who owns the data" in relation to collection company, athlete and teams.
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almost 8 years ago
Troy RuedigerWould love to hear Harry's insights on this!
Great thought about data collection though, will be a big privacy issue with athletes as teams/fans/leagues will continue to track more and more data points.
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almost 8 years ago
Craig Van VlietPrivacy is not the goal here, we can collect data and lock away the key. Blockchain, well Ethereum could allow new data collaborations.
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almost 8 years ago
Troy RuedigerWell no maybe not from Koparo's perspective but from an athlete's perspective the data that Koparo collects may not necessarily be something they'd want their employer or sponsors seeing.
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almost 8 years ago
Craig Van VlietI mean blockchain does not create privacy. So in a distributed open network there may be better ways for collectors, scientists, athletes, teams and sponsors to share some information.
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almost 8 years ago
Troy Ruedigeroh.. gotcha sorry. Yes this is another great use case!
I'm curious, with our goal being bridging the gap between the sports and tech world, after identifying this opportunity what is the best way to actually make it happen. Any thoughts there?
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almost 8 years ago
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almost 8 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinRegarding the use of data, I agree with Craig Van Vliet that the open-source use of data is the ultimate goal with blockchain. There was an article a few weeks back outlining how M... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
Harry Alford3A great case for Blockchain (and software built on top of decentralized platforms like Ethereum) will be ticketing. Ticket fraud is a substantial problem for entertainment, concert... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
Troy Ruediger100% perfect use case! Harold from BANDWAGON might be able to provide some insights on the ticketing play.
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almost 8 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinHey Harry Alford3 that's a perfect use case. Haven't even thought of that but will definitely incorporate the ticketing industry in the research.
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almost 8 years ago
Craig Van VlietThere are a couple if start-ups tackling this.
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almost 8 years ago
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almost 8 years ago
Harold HughesYup. That's exactly what we're doing. Fraud isn't our focus but is a positive externality for the solution we're building. We're building on IBM's Hyperledger Fabric.
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almost 8 years ago
Troy RuedigerI really love the idea of using blockchain to allow fans actually own part of their favorite team. What the Packers did with issuing stocks or whatever but selling actual ownership. Basically its FANchise with blockchain...
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almost 8 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinTroy Ruediger this was where all of my focus initially centered around (funding, investing, securitization). The idea of ownership will be radically changed from blockchain and ICO... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
Harold HughesWhy Blockchain in this application instead of standard shares though? What would be the upside? I think that equity crowdsourcing would make the most sense in such a simple application.
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almost 8 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinHarold Hughes great question. I don't claim to know 100% the correct answer but we've explored both and here is my $0.02:
ICOs also provide a built in market of liquidity that pri... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
Harold HughesI can see that. I just find that a lot of the ICOs that I've seen aren't for equity so maybe I'm missing those examples. Here's an example of one that isn't for equity but in the ticketing space: https://aventus.io/
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almost 8 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlin"Tokenized Assets" as they're called are basically issuing a token with a claim to the underlying asset. This will become more and more common in the industry, as most of the ICOs... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
Harold HughesYeah, Thomas L. McLaughlin - those are the ones I've seen. I just hadn't seen the ones that related the token value to an equity stake of an asset.
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almost 8 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinYeah those have been the standard for the first couple of years of ICOs. However, the same technology works really well for securitizing an asset and that's becoming more and more... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
Craig Van VlietMost of the applications are sports variations off the main theme. Ethereum medical contracts of course edge into sports. Betting applications. Athlete sponsorship that is rewarded... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
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almost 8 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinThanks for the response Ari. Gambling is definitely one of the other pillars I initially thought about. I know some of the guys at Wagerr and am familiar with what they are doing.... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
Adrian CurielI didn't have a ton of insight on Block chain until I watched this: http://blockchaindemo.io/?ref=producthunt / but if the Miami heat can ban all paper tickets to enter their stadi... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
Craig Van VlietTroy Ruediger in regard to the we have identified an area of opportunity where next? I am more than happy to help out Thomas L. McLaughlin and see where some of the ideas go.
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almost 8 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinMy initial thoughts on this were to gather information and put together a couple of articles explaining some potential use cases in the industry, to help clarify a topic that most... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinNow there's an idea. Could get sports performance products to pay and provide validated proof of the impact of their products.
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almost 8 years ago
KrisThomas L. McLaughlin I'm a crypto enthusiast and would be happy to support your research as you may need a hand. We're in exciting times as blockchain grows in popularity, and espe... Read More
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almost 8 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinHey Kris sounds great, would love to speak further. Would love to set up a call, shoot me an e-mail: tom@globalsportsfunds.com
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almost 8 years ago
Troy Ruediger👏Lots of great conversation here! 💬
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almost 8 years ago
Zac GloverWell, for anyone looking to better understand cryptocurrency, here is a research study that does a solid job of simplifying it:
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over 7 years ago
Thomas L. McLaughlinThanks for sharing Zac Glover, this is definitely a good read for anyone wanting to learn more.
I'm going to have more on this topic over the coming weeks, specifically as it rela... Read More
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over 7 years ago
What are your thoughts?
What will it be like to be a sports fan in 2027?
What are your thoughts?
Ever wanted to invest in your favorite professional athlete? Advancements in the field of financial technology such as equity-crowdfunding and ICOs can provide substantial value to professional athletes and fans alike.
What are your thoughts?
Really cool new product, Impact Wrap, just launched on our site (personal & enterprise products available). Tracks the impact of punches and kicks and... Read More
What are your thoughts?
Check Out Our Feature Article in Sports Wearable. Lots of info on new initiatives we'll be rolling out in the next couple of months:
What are your thoughts?
I think stand-offs like these will become more common as the industry model changes from monthly subscribers fees to more customized streaming options. Shame for affected fans
What are your thoughts?