The NBA Team Going All-In On NFTs

THE JOE POMP SHOW: My conversation with Darren Heitner is now live!

Darren Heitner is the founder of Heitner Legal and an expert on all things name, image, and likeness. We discuss which student-athletes might $1 million this year, if elite college football players will ever demand a revenue-sharing agreement, and more.

LISTEN TO THE FULL CONVERSATION HERE 

The Email is Sponsored By….

I love coffee, and I used to make it at home or pick it up at the coffee shop. But here’s the problem — it either wasn’t very good, involved a big clean-up, or ended up being extremely expensive.

So, this is where Cometeer comes in — the best coffee I’ve ever had. In partnership with MIT chemists and award-winning scientists, Cometeer has raised over $100 million to create an unbelievable coffee that takes less than 60 seconds to make and requires zero clean-up.

It’s a total gamechanger. Try it for yourself & thank me later :)

Hey Friends,

The sports industry is quietly attempting to innovate through NFT technology.

After hiring blockchain executive Greg Warden as its new VP of engineering earlier this year, SeatGeek has been rather coy about its rumored plan to move event tickets onto the blockchain.

So I interviewed SeatGeek CEO Jack Groetzinger last week, and even though he declined to publicly say whether they were actively building a blockchain-related product or not, his answer regarding NFT’s was all we really needed to hear.

When I asked what percentage of sports tickets would include an NFT component within the next 5 to 10 years, Jack said “north of 80%” would be his best guess and agreed that it would eventually become “the industry standard.”

And as a follow up to the tweet, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban mentioned two important updates:

1. The Mavs are *currently* enabling 100% of fans who attend home games to scan their ticket online to access an exclusive game-specific NFT.

2. The Mavs are still looking to use NFT’s as a way to collect a royalty-like fee on secondary market ticket sales.

Here’s the full exchange from Twitter:

I think this discussion is interesting for a few reasons.

Sure, it’s easy to claim NFTs are “the next big thing” after experiencing new technology and fun communities for the first time. But the reality is that 99% of NFT art & collectibles *might* not be worth much in the future — I’d much rather invest in the infrastructure than individual assets.

But I do think the blockchain technology empowering NFTs has the opportunity to spur innovation within the ticketing industry.

For example, scams & fraud have plagued the ticketing industry for decades. But with virtually every event ticket digitized today anyway, wouldn’t the ability to verify, rather than trust, the authenticity of a ticket before purchasing be extremely helpful?

I believe so, and that’s just one of several potential benefits.

Professional sports teams like the Dallas Mavericks and others are also salivating at the idea that they might be able to turn tickets into NFTs, collecting a royalty-like revenue stream from all secondary market transactions.

Remember, NFTs enable the primary creator to take a percentage of the sale price via royalty each time the NFT is sold on a marketplace — most fees range between 0% to 20%.

Here’s what Mark Cuban told CNBC earlier this summer:

In a world where the most significant revenue streams in pro sports are maximized into maturity — think media rights, merchandise, and more — consumers shouldn’t be surprised that leagues & teams are searching to grow, diversify, and expand new ones.

And lastly, adding an NFT-component to tickets can also enhance the relationship between teams and their fans through community-based products like loyalty programs & collectibles.

Social tokens have become a somewhat popular idea, especially throughout Western Europe, but I’ve written about the various challenges they might face when expanding into North American markets.

Still, whether it’s something simple like digital collectibles attached to event tickets or something more severe like blockchain-backed royalty mechanisms taking over the secondary ticket market, it’s clear that NFTs are here to stay in sports.

I hope everyone has a great day, and we’ll talk tomorrow.

Your feedback helps me improve Huddle Up. How did you like today’s post?

Loved | Great | Good | Meh | Bad

THE JOE POMP SHOW: My conversation with Darren Heitner is live!

Darren Heitner is the founder of Heitner Legal and an expert on all things name, image, and likeness.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• How NIL rules have changed

• Which athletes will make $1 million-plus this year

• The school paying athletes $2.5 million in academic bonuses

• How brands are determining the success of these deals

Listen, subscribe, share, and enjoy!

You can also watch the YouTube video below.