Arguably the greatest football (soccer) league of them all, the English Premier League (EPL), has filed for two crypto-related trademarks at the USA Patents and Trademark Office.
The (currently ambiguous) filings happened earlier this week on June 6th, with the first including its iconic lion-centric logo, and the second involving a trophy which features a crown and two golden lions on either side. Each also mentioned NFT-related licenses, which suggests that NFTs and other forms of EPL digital merchandise may be hitting virtual shelves some time soon.
For anyone who keeps up to date with ongoings which involve Web2 companies taking the plunge into Web3, this news shouldn’t really come as a surprise. For many established businesses, crypto, the metaverse, and NFTs have become the logical next-step for big brands to maintain and expand their market share within the 21st century’s ever-emerging society.
Arguably, the EPL has been relatively slow in getting accustomed to the Web3 landscape. Fellow major football leagues including the ‘Bundesliga’ (the German top league) have been working with the likes of NFT trading card platform Sorare since October.
That being said, the indisputable mass appeal of the EPL has meant that Web3 licensing agreements for the league have became somewhat of a minefield, as deal negotiations have been prolonged given the ludicrous amounts of money that is involved in and around the franchise.
