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He has a vision for a 'community owned' sports team. Here's how he plans to do it

Garrick Jones has a plan for a "community-owned" sports franchise that's bought through NFTs. The buy-in? Anywhere from $100 to $50,000.

HOUSTON — The photos on the wall of his game room tell the story of an ultimate underdog. And now, former pro football player Garrick Jones is attempting one historic Hail Mary.

"You need billions of dollars," KHOU 11’s Jason Bristol said.

"Absolutely," Jones said.

"Will that be a problem?" Bristol asked.

"No, no, no, not at all. Because you have billions of people, right?" Jones responded.

Jones, who lives in the Houston area, believes those people will pool their money – with his guidance – to purchase a major league sports franchise.

"Man, this is going to be global," he said.

Ideally, it's an NFL franchise. He'd like it to be the Houston Texans, now valued at $4.7 billion by Forbes. The Texans don't appear to be sale, however.

"I have a vested interest as a former player," Garrick said.

As he said last January, Jones is the head of a new venture called Fancentric, hoping to build a Green Bay Packers for the crypto age. But, does he have an entry price point for fans yet?

"It ranges anywhere from $100 to $50,000," Jones said.

This isn't a cash deal, though. The "community-owned" franchise would be through NFT (non-fungible tokens) which are digital certificates of ownership stored on the blockchain, a registry that is nearly impossible to hack.

With their subscription, fans won't just buy in. They'll be buying in. Membership shares include seminars to educate them on day-to-day operations.

"I mean, it's about accountability. I mean, if you are a fan, and you start to learn about the inner workings of a team that you go to, you no longer go to the game just as a fan, you now ... you have a vested interest in it," Jones said.

His background? An offensive lineman. He made the Texans roster in 2004 despite not being drafted, then mostly played in Canada. When did he first come up with this idea?

"I'd say 2012 when I started my developmental league," Jones said.

He's also organized a minor league football operation and once ran an internet campaign to become general manager of the Texans.

Attorney Alicia Jessop, of California, who specializes in sports law, said she's skeptical his Fancentrics model will work.

"I love progress. I love technology. I think the blockchain is fascinating," Jessop said. "Americans are investing more and more in unique and diverse portfolios, one of which is cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. But as fun as this sounds, I don't think it's likely to come to fruition anytime soon."

She said there's an "insufferable" number of hurdles one needs to clear to own a team.

"I've helped individuals purchase stakes of teams in your big sports leagues and it is a lengthy process where the leagues are going to unpeel so many aspects about who you are, where your money has come from, where you're going and what you might become," she said. "It's not just a matter of let's get a couple of billion dollars together and let's go make a charge after this."

The NFL has a rule that there must be at least one investor who owns 1/3 of the team. The NFL allows no more than 24 people in an ownership group, according to Bloomberg News, and the Packers' community structure is grandfathered in. Jessup also has concerns about where the investment money will be held.

Jones said his setup will comply with all SEC rules and regulations. Since KHOU 11 last met with him, Jones has launched a private equity fund to bring in large investors with the goal of purchasing franchises from lower-level professional sports leagues, to prove his model is feasible. He’s also banking on the NFL, someday, modifying its rules for ownership groups.

After we spoke to Jones, the BIG 3 three-on-three basketball league founded by Ice Cube announced it was "creating a new model of ownership by leveraging blockchain technology to sell NFTs that represent ownership-like value in its 12 teams."

Critics, though, won't deter Jones. He considers himself a market disruptor -- eager to pitch his tokens, including ceremonial hard copies.

"This is a commemorative token," he said while showing it to Bristol. "This is for Fancentric, Houston."

Hoping to change the game of ownership in pro sports, Jones finds himself in a familiar place: The longest of longshots.

Jason Bristol on social media: Facebook | Twitter

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