The Hall of Fantasy League will bring an innovative concept that might become the norm in new sports leagues moving forward.

The Hall of Fame Resort and Entertainment Company has announced plans to launch a Hall of Fantasy League that will feature NFL legends and contributors — and potentially Hall of Fame players — managing fantasy football teams along with fantasy sports experts. To top it off, fans will also be able to buy stakes of franchises in the 10-team league.

The way this concept works is rather simple: each team will be led by a professional football legend and a well-known fantasy figurehead managing the day-to-day operations of the team.

The idea of being able to engage with NFL players with a common unified goal is one of the selling points of this unique concept.

“To be able to engage with someone who has played in the sport, is still relevant, knows everyone in the sport and get their thoughts and advice on drafting and trading players is really unique,” says Michael Crawford, President and CEO of Hall of Fame Resort and Entertainment Company.

The HOFL explains this innovative concept in their official press release:

“Utilizing the concept of staking, the HOFL’s model aggregates fan bases and large communities of fantasy players by unifying them as shared team stakeholders in a season-long national fantasy league. Each franchise will be managed by a dedicated Front Office consisting of prominent fantasy experts and will include former NFL players — and potentially Hall-of-Famers — as team ambassadors.”

Holding a stake in a team— combined with the financial incentive that comes along with it — is what makes this league unique.

Fan Controlled Football is currently utilizing a similar concept — without the up-front financial incentives.

“When you feel like you have a stake in a team, you are a lot more active and you engage in it differently. Any time you have something to gain from something you’re watching or influence an outcome — you are 10 times more engaged with it,” says Crawford.

The partnership with the Pro Football Hall of Fame just adds another layer to the allure of investing in this new fantasy league.

“Due to our partnership with the Pro Football Hall of Fame, we have new ways to integrate Hall of Fame players and archives and really elevate this experience of playing in this new community-based national league,” says Senior Executive Consultant Mat Sposta.

Through a crowdfunding platform called StakeKings, fans will be able to buy stakes of their team.

Not only will they be able to buy stakes of the team, they’ll be able to cash in on their investments based upon their team’s success.

The top three teams in the league will result in winnings for their stakeholders, with the prize money being distributed as follows: first place will win six times their investment, second place two times their investment, and third place gets their money back.

So not only does the unique concept enable fans to buy stakes of the team — the Hall of Fantasy League is just the second sports league to do this — it provides an incentivized approach for fans investing in the league.

The Hall of Fantasy League blends a number of common traits found in start-ups and new companies these days. Most importantly, it features the most pivotal trait — the idea of making the consumer feel directly involved as a stakeholder of the team.

“The dream for most fans is to be an owner of a professional sports team. We wanted to democratize that idea of ownership,” says Creative Consultant Derek Siskin.

Siskin compares being a stakeholder in the HOFL to the ownership model of the Green Bay Packers — which is a publicly-owned franchise and not the property of an individual or corporate entity.

“It’s almost like the Green Bay Packers model,” Siskin says. “You’re all a part of this team. You’re able to influence — you’re not going to make the decisions — but in this league, now you can join forces with all your friends or random strangers and now engage with them for all of these things that are missing in normal fantasy sports.”

The idea of “community” is what makes staking in the HOFL almost like rooting for your favorite sports team — just with added financial incentives.

“All these great things are missing in regular fantasy sports such as the conversation, the fandom,” explained Siskin. “But also the financial element of having the incentive that if your team wins, you can participate in that upside.”

It’s all while sharing the experience of staking in a team with other fans around the country. This is a feeling that in traditional fantasy sports leagues you can never experience — that’s because you’re on your own.

In the HOFL, you’re basking in the experience of being part of a community.

“There’s anywhere between 30-to-60 million people who play fantasy sports,” said Sposta. We identified this opportunity as ‘hey, we built this first community-based fantasy game.’ We can find new ways to engage the audience and create new forms of content.”

Each stakeholder will have content and analysis tailored towards the specific team they invest in.

“This is an opportunity to build a unified league and having people a part of these individual teams now consuming content that’s always relevant to them,” continued Sposta.

But the fun doesn’t stop there — that would be because the league and its figureheads — the football legends — will be fully engaged with the platform and its fans.

Social media channels, Twitch platforms, media teams, podcast shows and overall longer form content will be created to produce nonstop coverage of a multi-faceted league that will target numerous fanbases from the sports, betting, fantasy sports and e-sports worlds.

With that being said, the league is just like the real NFL — general managers will be judged based upon their success and will be evaluated on a season-to-season basis. That means they might not be back for a second season if their team falters.

Those who stand out in the community — stakeholders — could even be elevated to the Front Office.

Each team — like its real-life NFL counterpart — will represent certain regions and appeal to that culture’s aesthetics. Except the names will be a little bit more fun. Think of it like the minor league baseball team names such as “Akron Rubberducks” or the “Omaha Storm Chasers.”

Among some of the playful team names include the Atlanta Hot Wings, the Vegas Pocket Kings, the Texas Y’allers and the Seattle Haze.

Furthermore, Hall of Fame Resort and Entertainment Company has announced a partnership with Dolphin Entertainment to utilize NFTs — in other words, non-fungible tokens. Non-fungible tokens are digital works of art and collectibles that are verifiable assets that are easy to trade on the blockchain.

Most notably, NBA’s Top Shots has sold non-fungible tokens for thousands of dollars — many of which feature highlight clips that the user can own. The HOFL will leverage their partnership with Dolphin Entertainment to offer fans opportunities to buy and sell NFTs associated with the league.

For example, you might able to buy an NFT of legendary Dolphins head coach Don Shula’s playbook from the perfect 1972 season. Just one of the many possibilities due to this partnership between HOFL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the explosion of popularity of NFT’s.

By the end of May, the Hall of Fame Resort and Entertainment Company will also announce personnel for the 10-squad league.

The idea of sports fans buying stakes of a professional sports team may have been a dream in the past. But with start-ups such as the Hall of Fantasy League and Fan Controlled Football, it’s looking more and more likely it’ll be a permanent fixture in new sports leagues moving forward.

It’s all about maximizing the fan’s interest in the league by making the consumer feel as involved as possible.

Welcome to the new age of being a sports fan.