The first professional sports league in America to really capitalize on the early NFT craze was the NBA. In a partnership with Dapper Labs, the NBA as well as the NBA Player’s Association (NBPA), set up NBA Top Shot, a blockchain platform that offers NFT trading cards known as “moments.” Earlier in September Dapper Labs managed to raise an additional $250 million in funding, a sign that digital collectibles were here to stay within the sports world.
That same month the NFL announced its own partnership with Dapper Labs.
"We believe blockchain technology has great potential to enhance the NFL fan experience in the future and we are excited to have Dapper Labs as one of our first collaborators in exploring this emerging space,” said Joe Ruggiero, Senior Vice President of Consumer Products at the NFL.
Football’s equivalent to NBA Top Shot will be called NFL All Day and is set to launch soon. After initially stating that the NFT experience would “launch later this season,” a waiting list to join the platform is now available. Perhaps the league is planning on timing the launch with Super Bowl LVI, which will take place on February 13 in Inglewood, California.
Similar setup—
NFL All Day will function in the same way that NBA Top Shot does — both platforms make use of Dapper Lab’s Flow blockchain and if anything can be gleaned from the official site, it will have a similar interface. Users can purchase randomized packs of “Moments,” with some being rarer than others. The whole experience is meant to provide a digital equivalent to physical card collecting.
Considering the NFL Players Association is involved in the partnership, you can expect some big-name players to promote the new venture.
While NBA Top Shot exploded early last year, the popularity began to wane as we moved further into 2021. I would expect a similar pattern to unfold for NFL All Day. Both partnerships with Dapper Labs are not to be confused with Ticketmaster’s own sports-related NFT partnerships. The ticketing service has worked with the NFL and the Dallas Mavericks to commemorate individual games with virtual tickets.
With NFTs inserting themselves into the broader sports equation and the legalization of sports betting in New York, the ability to monetize one’s fandom or general passion for sports in general, has never been easier.
