BNB Chain Spotlight: EX Sports

Today we present a very exciting BNB Chain Project Spotlight, which core mission is to promote athletes and federations of ‘niche’ sports. That’s right! Enjoy our interview with the EX Sports team below.

IMPORTANT: Please note the following content does not constitute an endorsement or approval of any of the products or services of the project, organization, or individual.

1. Please describe EX Sports and Urbanball to those unfamiliar with them. What's your vision and mission?

EX Sports is a full circle fan engagement platform centered on an NFT Marketplace, Live Streaming, Gaming, and E-Commerce. A core mission is to promote athletes and federations of ‘niche’ sports, such as; Muay Thai, Ju Jitsu, Powerlifting, and Street Football.  These sports have deeply passionate and committed fans, but do not receive anywhere near the same support and nurturing as mainstream sports. EX Sports are fighting for these ‘underdogs’, increasing their visibility and engagement at a grassroots level through the use of blockchain, developing the sport, and helping them capture a fair share of the mainstream limelight.

Urbanball is one of EX Sport’s projects that is disrupting the traditional world of football. Urbanball is a 360 street football ecosystem, comprising an innovative 1v1 ‘fightball’ football format, tournaments, play-and-earn game, NFT collectibles, e-commerce, and talent management, all of which are interconnected.

2. When was the idea behind EX Sports and Urbanball born, and what led to it?

EX Sports was born in 2019 as a sport-tech company that focused on supporting athletes and federations of ‘niche’ sports through its sports eco-system and fan engagement platform.  CEO and Co-Founder, Toli Makris, 15 years of experience as a fight promoter and event organizer allowed him to recognize the inequality in the world of sports.  Niche sports, whose athletes often live in some of the poorest countries, simply do not have the same level of investment made into their careers, often suffering from a  lack of foundational structure altogether.

Toli decided to found EX Sports in order to support athletes in niche sports, helping them connect more deeply with their fans whilst generating additional revenue streams and brand awareness.  The growth of blockchain technology and Non-fungible tokens has allowed EX-Sports to develop a more comprehensive eco-system that supports athletes, federations, sponsors, and fans.

3. Tell us something about your team's background.

Toli Makris - CEO - a true entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience as a fight promoter, event organizer, and business leader.

Lewis Chan - COO - over a decade in pioneering new and innovative tech and an experienced corporate support leader in delivering complex solutions and project management in complex environments.

Sabir Khodabux - CMO - Over 10 years of experience working in sales, marketing and strategy roles for leading digital media groups building brands.

4. What are the main advantages of EX Sports for the user, compared to a similar project?

EX Sports is creating something totally unique and original, as its ecosystem is centered around niche sports, which the crypto community has almost completely ignored and overlooked.  Users of EX Sports will have a 360 fan experience using the platform, allowing them to support their favorite sport and athletes, earn rewards, play games, buy merchandise and watch events.  

5. Let's say I want to start using EX Sports. Where do I start? Where can I find some how-to guides?

To find out more about EX Sports and what is on offer, the best play is the website, ex-sports.io, or its social channels.  At present, EX Sports has exclusively had 2 drops on Binance NFT for its Urbanball project, which is focused on street football.

6. Why did you decide to migrate/build on the BNB Chain?

Ease of use, flexibility, efficiency, a strong ecosystem, excellent support and low fees. EX Sports offers creative and innovative solutions that require a chain that meets these requirements, which BNB Chain is natively built to do, so it was a perfect match.  

As BNB Chain offers so much freedom for companies to innovate, we would like to see projects that aim to tackle real world problems, deliver real solutions and offer genuine utilities that will impact people's lives positively, just like EX Sports doing.  

7. What are the benefits of interacting with your Play-to-earn model?

Users will gain rewards as they play and win in the different game modes. The main reward is the in-game token, that players can use to buy in-game products, like clothes, or they use the tokens on the EX Sports app, allowing them to redeem for experiences with athletes from multiple sports or e-commerce options through partnerships with airlines or other companies that EX Sports has.  Alternatively, users can choose to exchange the token on the Binance Exchange or through a DApp that supports the BNB Chain. All of the characters featured in the game are based on real life athletes.  Every time an NFT is purchased from the primary sale, a large chunk of revenue is given to the athlete.

8. What is the roadmap of EX Sports?

9. Is there any upcoming event?

The next event is between the 6th - 10th July in Brazil, where the Urbanball Fightball Brazil qualifiers will take place in Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro. Two winners from the qualifiers will become part of the Urbanball game, starting by having NFTs of them minted and dropped in the Brazil Drop on the 29th June 11am, exclusive with Binance NFT.

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