What do Tom Brady, Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour now have in common?
The Tour and Autograph, the web3 brand co-founded by Tom Brady and that counts Woods as a board adviser, announced a deal through 2027 to create a NFT platform and allow fans to own a token of its history.
The Tour will work with Autograph to create a digital collectibles platform that pulls from Tour competition video, data, imagery and other competition-related components. Golf fans will have the opportunity to own and collect NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) featuring the best Tour golfers as well as some of their favorite moments from the archives and the current season.
NFT’s is an emerging market that some say is on the verge of revolution in the way digital goods are bought and sold. Chris Wandell, the Tour’s vice president of media business development, compared it to the early days of the Internet.
“We’re on our 1-yard line and have the length of the field to grow,” he said. “This is going to be really good for fans and players. We think it will be a game-changer.”
Before his departure to LIV Golf, Phil Mickelson complained that players should have greater control of their media rights. As part of the deal, all of the net revenue flows directly to players.
“It’s a program designed to put money directly in players’ pockets,” Wandell said. “It is setup in a way to reward the most popular players and those who are actively marketing their own NFTs. We really want players to lean in and talk about this stuff.”
Wandell said surveys of Tour fans indicate that a small percentage of its audience even know what a NFT is right now, but that likely will change as they become more commonplace. The potential exists to offer a new way for fans to express their allegiance to a certain player, and much like sports betting and fantasy golf, it is a way to attract a different audience to the game.
“Enhancing the golf world with NFTs will create a connection between us as players and the fans,” Woods said in a press release announcing the deal.
Additionally, collectors will have a chance to earn rewards, including access to exclusive digital, in-person and onsite experiences. The Tour’s exclusive NFT Digital Collectibles platform with Autograph will launch in early 2023.
“This is an effort by the PGA Tour to try something we’ve never done before,” Wandell said. “We’re trying to do our best to innovate for our fans and partner with companies willing to take a leap with us.”
