NFL stars Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman have joined the Fan-Controlled Football League (FCFL) — a crypto-powered football league — as team owners.

Lynch and Sherman will also serve as fan captains for their respective franchises when the FCFL’s inaugural season kicks off in June 2019, the company told CCN.

Lynch is currently a running back for the Oakland Raiders and Sherman is a defensive back for the San Francisco 49ers. Sherman and Lynch won the Superbowl together in 2013 when they were teammates on the Seattle Seahawks.

The FCFL is a blockchain-based, real-world sports league where fans make all the decisions: They hire the coaches, draft the players, and call the plays in real time. They also name the teams and design the logos.

$5.2 Million ICO Canceled

As CCN reported, NFL Hall of Famer and venture capitalist Joe Montana joined the crypto-powered league as an investor and chief strategic adviser in September 2018.

Back in December 2017, the FCFL raised $5.2 million from an initial offering through Indiegogo, one of the world’s largest crowdfunding platforms.

In August 2018, MicroVentures — the broker-dealer that handles Indigogo’s ICO fundraisers — quietly canceled the ICO and refunded the money, citing regulatory concerns.

In a blog post, the FCFL said it decided to delay its ICO until it launches a fully-functional platform to demonstrate to regulators that its tokens truly have utility and are not speculative investments:

“After many, many hours spent with our legal counsel and advisors, we decided that the best course of action was to delay our Fan Token generation event until the launch of a fully completed FCFL platform with which the Fan Tokens can interact with utility function.”

Games Will Be Live-Streamed On Twitch

The Fan-Controlled Football League is hoping to capitalize on the growing mainstream awareness of blockchain and crypto by offering a hybrid experience that combines the passion of live sports with the engagement of video games.

FCFL games will be played in a high-tech production studio equipped with drones, sensors and wearables, with seating for 1,000 fans. The games will be streamed in real time through Twitch, a live streaming video platform owned by Amazon.

The team owners and celebrity fan captains of the remaining six teams will be announced in the coming weeks. The FCFL said it is also working with a group of private investors who will be participating alongside the fan captains as co-owners of the fan-run teams.

The FCFL was founded by serial entrepreneurs Sohrob Farudi, Grant Cohen, and Patrick Dees in collaboration with NFL veteran Ray Austin.