RKL co-founder Marcus Bläsche sees the new multi-year partnership as something that can bring the league to new heights thanks to CAA’s global talent roster.
Many NFT projects have struggled and/or failed in the past few months due to overvaluation, market factors, and regulatory concerns. But there are a few that have continued to make waves despite the downturn.
Rumble Kong League is one of the outliers who recently announced a new multi-year partnership with global sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), through which CAA Sports will serve as the official sports agency partner to RKL’s parent company, Rumble League Studios Inc.
Co-founder of Rumble Kong League, Marcus Bläsche, believes this is a great step in the right direction for the young brand that’s focused on trying to build something where brands, athletes, and players all come together under a Web3 roof.
“We are a young company. We have to establish ourselves. We have to build credibility, and we will do that through the product. I think where the value for CAA and us lies in the type of activations that we can do. So for us, marketing and acquisitions are going to play a huge role at the end of the year and we can activate the talent roster there, which is important.
“If we’re building an organic and endemic campaign with an athlete or with a brand, it will automatically generate a lot of eyeballs on their end. For us, it allows us to tap into new markets and talk to fans talk to athletes directly and give them an outlet. For us, this is where CAA can shine.”
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Although Bläsche is optimistic about the direction of the brand and partnership with CAA, also an early investor in Rumble Kong League, he isn’t oblivious to the negative sentiment surrounding crypto and NFTs at the moment.
“The last year has been rough for NFTs and Web3. So, in terms of the credibility of NFTS or crypto as a whole, it was a little bit of a rough patch. However, for us, the financial aspect has never been the focus of why we’re doing this,” Bläsche said. “We see the opportunity being bringing assets and digital ownership to people and make a fun game. From Day 1, the premise is that we want to give everyone true ownership of the digital assets that if you buy in a game, should be yours. We want to enforce that.
“For us, it was about blockchain technology that is enabling this for the end user, but also at the same time creating a fun game because this is something that the space is lacking.”
Another thing that has helped RKL gain traction is the involvement of star athletes, particularly around hoops with athletes such as Paul George, Stephen Curry, and JaVale McGee all in the mix. Bläsche said the company likes to involve athletes like PG and Curry “in early steps of game development,” with George doubling down on that sentiment, telling Boardroom he’s looking forward to “working with their team to support projects for The Paul George Foundation.”
Through this partnership with CAA, one that will seemingly benefit all parties, Rumble Kong League hopes to explore other opportunities for collaboration and campaigns with athletes, taking the company to a new level.
“We talked to them about how we can build campaigns together with them to increase their fan base and touch into a new area. Some of the campaigns we’ve talked with them about involve us doing something more charitable and speaking more to their vision as well,” said Bläsche. “It’s not just a cash grab. It’s something that brings value to everyone that is involved in it. It’s important to build campaigns that are bringing something digital, but also real activations, or something physical that fans can enjoy.
“One thing that we see as well with NFTs is that they are creating a strong community that is believing in the same course, and we want to bring something to let us know serving them, but also the wider gaming audience.”
As far as what’s next and the long-term vision for Rumble Kong League, the sky is the limit when taking into account the global talent roster at CAA and RKL’s capacity to branch into other sports with various athletes.
“You can be an athlete, a musician, or build cars in your free time, but you can still love basketball. We want to give our fans the feeling that anyone is welcome. We still want to create a gaming environment that is all-around basketball at the end, but that still is inclusive and can bring an outlet to anyone,” Bläsche said. “We’re looking at doing things in the metaverse where maybe there’s gonna be an NFL player we work with and players will be able to jump in the air and throw a football into the hoop or something. Those are the kinds of things we can do because it’s a game that is very dynamic and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
“My dream would be to have a basketball game, maybe a football game, and then maybe a hockey game. We’re very much about competitive gaming, different themes, and tribes, and we want to bring this to life first in basketball. Then, if everything goes well, we’ll dive into [other] sports.”
Rumble Kong League shows no signs of slowing down despite market concerns. After all, it has all the ingredients to build a sustainable long-term brand.
Impeccable leadership, long-term horizon, a devoted community, and last — but certainly not least — partners who believe in its potential.
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