Altered State Machine and Drew “Druski” Desbordes Acquire Fan Controlled Football’s Reigning Champions Wild Aces
Original Co-founders NFL’s Austin Ekeler and TV Personality Rachel Lindsay to Join New Ownership Group
Fans to Vote for New Team Name & Logo Starting Today
LOS ANGELES (March 2, 2022) – Fan Controlled Football (FCF), the only professional sports league that empowers fans to make key decisions for their favorite team, including calling plays in real-time, today announced the acquisition of the league’s reigning champions, the Wild Aces, by a new ownership group comprised of Altered State Machine (ASM), comedian Drew “Druski” Desbordes, NFL running back Austin Ekeler, and former Bachelorette and current TV Host, Rachel Lindsay.
ASM and Druski are joining forces with Ekeler and Lindsay, who are two of the Wild Aces’ founding co-owners, as they seek to build on the team’s championship run heading into Season v2.0, which is set to begin on April 16, 2022, in Atlanta. The Wild Aces acquisition is on the heels of the FCF closing a $40 million Series A just two months ago, which was led by leading web3, gaming and technology focused venture groups including Animoca Brands, Delphi Digital, Gemini, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Talis Capital and Verizon Ventures.
While owners in other pro-sports leagues have struggled mightily in recent times to launch rebranding efforts that their fans actually are excited about, in true FCF fashion, this new ownership group is turning it over to their fans to come up with the new name and logo for their team. Fans can visit www.fcf.io/ now to submit their name ideas and upvote their favorite suggestions.
“We are thrilled to welcome Altered State Machine and Druski to the FCF,” said Fan Controlled Football Co-Founder and CEO Sohrob Farudi. “This team ownership group is the epitome of what we’re building, pro football built from the ground up to take advantage of the latest technology, creating the most unique, interactive sports fan entertainment experience. ASM’s A.I. tech, Ekeler’s world class football knowledge, and Druski and Rachel’s comedy and entertainment prowess are coming together to lead the reigning FCF champs into next season and beyond.”
FCF made its debut in February 2021, featuring four teams owned by some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment including Marshawn Lynch, Quavo, Richard Sherman, Dalvin Cook, and Bob Menery. Season v1.0 saw FCF become the fastest growing live sports channel on Twitch with nearly 10 million total live views, and one of the top sports Apps in the Apple App Store.
Altered State Machine Co-Founder Aaron McDonald says Fan Controlled Football is a powerful first step in the future of web3 gaming.
“Using technology to augment human decisions and the gaming experience is a true community-first endeavor. Empowering users to contribute, own and be a part of the future of sports platforms like FCF is a great partnership for Altered State Machine as we bring our interoperable AI protocol into the metaverse, and we’re extremely excited to support and develop more opportunities for the next generation of gamers and players.”
Altered State Machine is the world’s first Non-Fungible Intelligence platform used for the creation of unique digital avatars embedded with artificial intelligence and owned as an NFT. ASM offers a decentralized protocol for creating ownership of these A.I.-enabled NFTs, which can be used for a variety of applications, including games, financial services, virtual assistants, online worlds, and many more.
“I’m pumped to be joining FCF not only as an owner, but of the reigning champion Wild Aces!” said Druski. “I love everything about this league, and look forward to crushing this with ASM, Austin and Rachel. Hope our fans are ready to call all the shots and keep the FCF title where it belongs. This is going to be fun!”
To get in on the FCF action ahead of its second season, fans can register for free by signing up and joining one of the four OG teams, including the soon-to-be-renamed Wild Aces.
For fans plugged into the metaverse, FCF has introduced four expansion teams for season two as part of the league’s brand-new Ballerz Collective, a first-of-its-kind NFT experience that provides fans holding FCF Ballerz with team governance rights, play-to-earn game mechanics, and unique IRL utility and VIP experiences.
The new Ballerz Collective NFT teams include:
- The Kingpins – The Gutter Cat Gang community team led by former NFL legend Jamal Anderson, along with King BlackBored, Dr. Dicatrio, Vivek Ravishanker, and SpottieWiFi.
- The Bored Ape Football Club – The Bored Ape Yacht Club community team with team ownership featuring TropoFarmer, Josh Ong, Jerseyborn, Franklin, Lindsey Byrnes, BenJammin, NFTsAnonymous, Jeff Nicholas, and Spr3adsh33t.
- Knights of Degen Football Club – led by their founders and community members, which include NFL legends Tiki and Ronde Barber, Jerry Ferrara, Cynthia Frelund from NFL Network, Jasmine Maietta from Round21, Drew Austin, and more.
- 8OKI Football Club – led by two highly recognized blockchain advocates – famed musician and producer Steve Aoki, and 888, legendary collector and founder of 888 Inner Circle and 888 The New World whose mission is to empower artists, creators and the digital art community.
Fans can still join a team and get in the game by visiting www.fcf.io/ballerz. And for more info, they can follow the FCF Ballerz Collective on Twitter or join the FCF Discord.
About Fan Controlled Football
Fan Controlled Football (FCF) – the only professional sports league that combines the passion and competitiveness of live and fantasy sports with the interactivity of video games – is the first league in professional sports history empowering fans to call the shots, from branding and personnel decisions to real-time play calling. The FCF is the democratization of sports with Season v2.0 expanding to eight (8) teams kicking off in the Spring of 2022, featuring seven regular-season weeks and one playoff week, culminating with the People’s Championship. Regular and postseason play, in addition to exclusive behind-the-scenes league content, is available on twitch.tv/FCF and broadcast partners NBCLX, Peacock, and DAZN. For more information download the FCF mobile application, visit FCF.io and join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Discord.
About Altered State Machine
Altered State Machine is on a mission to provide AI for everybody via Non-Fungible Intelligence. The ASM platform powers the creation and training of AI-driven NFTs known as Agents, which are interoperable across the metaverse. The ASM protocol enables individuals and organizations to own, train and evolve AI via revolutionary genome mining and intelligence mining processes. The direction of the ASM platform is controlled by a DAO, powered via the ASTO token. Find out more about ASM here and join the conversation on Discord and Twitter.
