How NFTs are transforming the world of sports memorabilia. From NBA’s Top Shot to MLB’s Play of the day and iconic player cards – explore the exciting, new possibilities in this digital age of sports fandom.
Any true fan of a football, basketball or baseball team wants to own a unique piece of memorabilia of their favorite club or athlete and now with an NFT they can own something truly special. Whether it’s a signed photo, a collectible or even the captured moment of when their favorite player scored that one goal of a lifetime.
Thanks to the blockchain technology a dedicated fan can now own something no-one else has.
Basketball
One of the first to realize this amazing potential was the NBA (National Basketball Association), when they launched their NBA Top Shot Platform, allowing fans to buy a highlight of any match. The cost of owning such a moment depends on the star power of the player and the uniqueness of the moment: that one pass, that one shot, that one slam dunk that won them the match, that made sports history!
Baseball
Whether you collect them or not, everybody knows about the value of baseball cards, and now you can also own a baseball card as an NFT. Topps, the company behind the most valuable baseball cards in history, saw a golden opportunity in the NFT market. After all, it really fits their product.
The MLB (Major League Baseball), just like their colleagues in the NBA, also sells highlights of a game for fans to own on the blockchain, in what they call MLB’s Play of the Day NFT’s.
Football
Another great example is the fantasy football game (or what you lovely Americans call soccer) Sorare, where players can create teams, earn rewards with fantasy league scores and buy, sell, trade and manage their virtual teams using digital player cards, which can be rare, super-rare or unique. Sorare is partnered with 337 officially licensed clubs, such as FC Bayern München, Manchester United, AC Milan and FC Barcelona. Examples of notable Sorare cards are Erling Haaland (unique) worth $687.000, Christiano Ronaldo (unique) worth $265,275, Kevin De Bruyne (unique) worth $167,469, Kylian Mbappé (super-rare) worth $84,075, Luis Sinisterra (unique) worth $80,527 and Kylian Mbappé (rare) again, worth $70,679.
Players
Football legend Pelé even decided to sell his very own digital cards as Pelé NFT’s, which made $750,000 - 90 percent of which went to his foundation fighting against child poverty around the world.
One of the most expensive sports NFT's is the “Statue of Lebron”, of famous basketball player LeBron James, which is worth 10.000 ETH or almost 19 million US dollars.
For the fans
The possibilities of what a fan can own on the blockchain are limitless. Not only that one, iconic moment, but collectibles such as photos, autographs, cards, games, quotes and social media posts, avatars, stickers, tickets, fan meetings, outfits and trophies – you name it.
As one can see, the many ways to monetize and market NFT’s for sports clubs and players provide exciting, new opportunities to earn revenue, promote their names and to draw in fans even closer.
