Kansas basketball fans will soon have a new way to add to their souvenir collection.
The University of Kansas Men’s Basketball Program has joined the University of Kentucky and has partnered with white-label NFT platform company Mercury to provide fans with an exclusive digital collection of their favorite KU players and coaches.
Called the “Rock Chalk” community, it was found online on RockChalk.io from February 19th. This new initiative will allow fans to buy, sell and trade KU coach Bill Self and players Ochaiag Bazi, David McCormack and Remy’s Digital KU NFT. Martin etc.
The addition of NFTs to the sports souvenir market has exploded over the past year. According to a recent Reuters article, NFT sales exceeded $ 25 billion in 2021 in all genres (art, music, sports, fashion, etc.).
Several ex-Jay Hawks have created their own NFT presence with a professional team, and dozens of professional athletes have taken part in the tide of creating new experiences through a collection of irreplaceable tokens.
“This is an online sports souvenir market,” Mercury CEO and co-founder Porter Greaves told Journal World in a recent telephone interview. “Just as people used to collect baseball cards, they are now starting to collect things in the digital world.”
NFTs aren’t the same in that they can’t be held and exhibited at home, but Grieve believes that this new kind of sports souvenir will bring collectors something that traditional media couldn’t. increase.
One is shortage.
“These athletes have so short careers in college that these NFTs are even more scarce,” said Greaves, who said the partnership was to relevant athletes through their relationship with KU and G3 Marketing. , Said that it will also offer the possibility of acquiring images and portraits. With a new attempt.
Another way these NFTs differ from traditional collectibles such as cards, bobblehead dolls and apparel is that they can capture big moments.
For example, in addition to having his own NFT as a kind of player card, Mercury can create a 3-point shot NFT that connects the Agbazi game in overtime against Texas Tech. Other big moments and highlight-type plays can be quickly converted to collector-oriented NFTs. Mr. Greaves said developers could quickly turn around such things and make them publicly available a week after the moment occurred.
Beyond that, Grieve calls the RockChalk.io platform a kind of online community where KU fans benefit in ways that go beyond the NFT collection. Purchasing NFTs gives fans access to special ticket offers, opportunities to meet players, real physical souvenirs and more.
“For us, this is really to bring the fan base and community closer to the teams and players they love,” Greaves said. “What we’re offering players here is a new and exciting way to connect with off-court fans (and) a very passive, low-lift way to earn off-court income. All they have to do is say, “Hey, they look good, you’re using my portrait, you love the look, sell them freely.” And they get a reduction in income. ”
Agbaji, for example, is fully involved in launching a KU-themed NFT.
“I’m always proud to be part of this historic basketball program, and I think this is another cutting-edge opportunity for the University of Kansas,” he said in a news release announcing the partnership. I did. “We are at the forefront of NCAA’s NFT and look forward to seeing how this technology creates a whole new platform for interacting with the best fans of college sports.”
Currently, KU-specific NFTs are limited to Kansas basketball. As with Mercury’s decision to partner with Kentucky Men’s Basketball as one of the first clients in college space, Greaves will work with Kansas Basketball to help Mercury thousands of college basketball players from coast to coast. He said he would give fans the opportunity to reach.
“This isn’t something we want to blow to all schools and sports facilities around the world,” he said. “We are currently focused on entering the market with several iconic programs of choice.”
He called them “eternal brands,” but said Mercury was looking for future opportunities with other Kansas Athletics sports teams.
“It’s very important for us to partner with an institution with an enthusiastic fan base,” says Greaves. “We are focused on making every NFT we sell valuable and forever part of KU’s history.”
Starting today, KU fans can check out RockChalk.io and add their name to the platform mailing list or join the Discord community. The KU-specific NFT will be officially launched on the site from February 19th.
To get a glimpse of what a real KUNFT looks like, fans can check out Kentucky’s unique site, UKBlueChips.io, to see how Mercury deployed Wildcats NFTs.
