NFL Joins NBA Top Shot Maker to Test Digital Collectibles Demand
NFL All Day, a digital collectible platform built by Dapper Labs, officially launches today as the league continues to develop its blockchain offering.
Much like with NBA Top Shot, fans will be able to buy packs of video highlight NFT “moments” as well as buy and sell individual moments on a marketplace. The first public release Friday will include 22,500 packs at $59 each, with executives hoping to maintain scarcity and drive demand for the product.
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“When you’re walking by a sneaker store and there’s this huge line out the door, that’s how you know something good is inside,” NFL All Day GM Dave Feldman said in an interview.
That sense of yearning helped fuel Top Shot’s February 2021 spike, a boom that introduced many to the concept of digital collectibles while sparking a mania that has since cooled. Top Shot’s best sales month in 2022 (January) saw $59 million spent on the platform, compared to the $224 million spent in February 2021, according to NFT tracking site CryptoSlam!
Still, IP-anchored NFTs have proven more resilient than many of their crypto relatives. All Day has been operational in closed beta since early this year, and despite blockchain headwinds has hosted more than 50 transactions of at least $10,000.
During the season, top plays and archival clips will be sold at different rarity levels. The platform has also offered team-specific NFTs, collector challenges and real-world rewards. In one example, two All Day collectors were tabbed to announce NFL draft picks this spring.
“We are incredibly bullish in terms of where we think the potential for blockchain technology is going to be to impact fan experiences in the future,” NFL SVP of consumer products Joe Ruggiero said in an interview. “We understand that is long term, but our approach has been to test and learn with early leaders in the space.”
Last month, the league announced it was expanding its ticket stub NFT program with Ticketmaster to more than 100 games this season. It has also announced a partnership to develop an NFT-based game, while DraftKings will soon come to market with an NFLPA-licensed NFT fantasy game (the NFLPA is also a partner on NFL All Day). The NFL and Dapper Labs first announced their partnership in September 2021.
“As long as fans are engaging with this and we’re learning together with our fans on how these things can help make the NFL fan experience better, that’s success for us,” Ruggiero said.
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