A growing number of athletes, clubs and sports brands are empowering their fan communities through NFTs. Some of the most famous include NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, Solare and Cristiano Ronaldo’s new NFT collection. These collectibles allow fans to own player cards and videos of their favorite games, as well as interact with a community of fans through digital and real-world experiences.
NBA partners with Dapper Labs top shotis a platform where fans can buy, own and trade video highlights of NBA and WNBA teams and players called “Moments”. These Moments will reward fans with even more collectibles as they participate in Top Shot Challenges and other activities.
Similarly, the NFL has partnered with Dapper labs to NFL All Day Fans can buy, own and trade video NFTs highlighting the greatest NFL plays throughout the season and in NFL history. These videos are also known as “Moments” and similar to Top Shot Moments, fans can earn more collectibles as they participate in challenges and other activities. NFL All Day also provides weekly opportunities for fans to “earn yards and win exclusive rewards.” playbook.
Stray It is a platform for fantasy soccer, NBA and MLB games and has partnerships with clubs such as Real Madrid and FC Bayern Munich. Similar to Top Shot and NFL Allday, fans can buy, own and trade NFT cards while managing his fantasy team online. Cards earn or lose points based on the player’s real-time performance.
Individual athletes also engage with fans through NFTs. Most recently, on November 18, 2022, Cristiano Ronaldo dropped his NFT collection on his Binance. This first collection features bronze statues of iconic moments in Ronaldo’s life (his childhood in Portugal) and their level of rarity (Normal (N), Rare (R), Super Rare (SR), or Super Super). They have different perks depending on. Rare (SSR)), Ronaldo’s handwritten message, and handwritten autographed goods.
These sports NFTs are becoming increasingly popular as they offer new monetization avenues for athletes, clubs and sports brands. For example, as of March 2022, NBA Top Shot has a market cap of over $1.1 billion, and as of August 2022, NFL Allday has a market cap of over his $68 million.
However, as you may have noticed, the NFT market is volatile and you should always act with caution. due diligence When investing in NFTs. As such, the NFT platform is wrapped in terms of use and disclaimers.Binance’s publication Part of Ronaldo’s NFT collection includes the following “risk warning”:The value of your NFT may go up or down. NFTs are subject to high market risk. Please do your own research. NFTs are not regulated in most countries, but please ensure that access to the Binance NFT Marketplace is permitted where applicable. For more information, please see the Binance NFT Terms of Service. terms of service When risk warning”
With the allure of athlete names on high-profile drops, it might be easy to buy sports NFTs without paying attention, but celebrities and large NFT platforms are not immune to market volatility. .
Professional baseball player Michael Carter-Williams recently news For his NFT community called Players Only, which he co-founded with Brooks Brown and Austin Grieshober, Degen KnightsPlayers Only promised investors the opportunity to interact with Carter-Williams and other professional athletes through online communities and IRL. Players Only also promised physical event giveaways such as autographed memorabilia, practice facility tours, impromptu meetups, and regular conversations with players. Players Only raised about $1.5 million in his NFT sales, but the community felt they had received nothing of what was promised. Of his seven professional athletes touted as founding members, six rarely participated in conversations on his Discord channel. He has only met three times in person. A metaverse implementation never materialized. either did not submit (e.g. 1 investor won 3 Ethereum and a full paid trip to Orlando giveaway but only received Ethereum) or did not match the description (e.g. 1 Tweeted that the winner won a signed jersey, but received an unsigned practice t-shirt and said, “I have to admit, I just bought it, didn’t do any research. [NFT].”). It’s unclear if Players Only was a high threshold, but Carter Williams attempted to reimburse the investor who requested one, and participated in his one-on-one conversations with the investor, telling him that I tried to save the reputation of those involved with Players Only. What probably happened is that the Players Only founder did more than chew. Carter-Williams said: Yes…but again, I don’t think people understand what it’s like to be in an NBA season and do all of that. I don’t think people realize how busy professional athletes are. ”
Even veteran NFT company Dapper Labs had problems running NFL All Day.and ask me anything (“AMA”) joined Dave and Noah from Dapper Labs in a conversation on Youtube in early November 2022 about their platform concerns with the NFL All Day community. At that AMA, they discussed recent layoffs at Dapper Labs, lack of promised challenges, recent lack of communication with the community, and suspended playbooks. To summarize Dave and Noah’s answers, NFL All Day is a live project that needs constant attention, and Dapper Labs will interact with its own project and community as it progresses and receives more feedback. It looks like you’re learning more about the more efficient way of . by the community. Dave and Noah crossed a tight line between providing enough content for the community to participate in, without providing too much content for collectors to feel he was diluting the value of NFTs. stated that he was trying Dapper Labs seems to have delivered on their promise (so far). playbooks are back.
With these new and exciting ways to interact with your favorite players and teams, at least in part, you need to be flexible and communicate with your platform. What is an athlete or team without fans, anyway?
