NFT Connecting Sport And Culture
NFL quarterback Tom Brady is a co-founder for a new NFT platform, Autograph. Not only does the company have NFT deals and advisory board members with top athletes such as Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods, Naomi Osaka, and Tony Hawk, but it is expanding to film and television properties. Autograph recently partnered with Lionsgate and DraftKings to create new NFTs and a digital collectibles marketplace. In the partnership with Lionsgate, Autograph will launch an entertainment focus with Hunger Games, Twilight Saga, Dirty Dancing, John Wick, and Mad Men. The sports-related NFTs will be available later this summer on DraftKings Marketplace while the entertainment properties will be on the market in the fall.
It is becoming clear NFT’s are not just for athletes but any other form of entertainment. Jenefer Brown, EVP and Head of Lionsgate Global Live, Interactive & Location-Based Entertainment said, “NFTs present a tremendous opportunity for mixed-reality world building experiences, deepening user engagement and interaction and fostering a community for our hundreds of millions of global consumers to create one-of-a-kind digital collections and Autograph is the optimal destination for this discovery.”
The goal of NFTs is to provide new and additional streams of revenue to all kinds of artists, athletes, and IP owners. The digital commodity is not just limited to trading cards but can also take the form of artwork, movies, highlights, and more.
Here are some interesting NFT/blockchain deals hitting the market recently:
Great Britain is the first Olympic team to create NFT storefront
Coca-Cola creates its first NFT, released on International Friendship Day with proceeds to Special Olympics International
Panini and OneTeam collaborated a deal for College Card rights
Digital Bits has first sports sponsorship as AS Roma’s shirt sponsor
With these new deals, we are seeing an intersection of cryptocurrency and culture. Technology is rebranding the definition of sports and culture. We have seen firsthand from our Fan Project Report data that Fluid Fans are more likely to engage in sports content that embodies their social and cultural beliefs. The idea of connected media and storytelling across multiple platforms is becoming more and more prevalent through the creation of the metaverse. Video games and movies create these extensive webs of stories that all work together to ultimately bring one key idea together. The sports industry has begun to take notice, and if you haven’t, you’re falling behind.