Crypto Corner: The Sports Slice

Another busy week in sports and crypto, with no dominant headlines carrying the conversation, but plenty of activity to cover. The PGA Tour is the latest league to enter the space, rewarding sports stars in the league with compensation for their digital rights after decades of criticism around their failure to do so. Meanwhile, racing NFTs continue to see investment, a football legend enters the arena, and a new MLB NFT record sale hits the books.

All in a week’s worth of sports and crypto. We cover it every Sunday at The Sports Slice – let’s review.

The Sports Slice

PGA Tour NFTs Empower Athletes To Own Digital Rights Of Their Highlights

The PGA Tour is working on rolling out a number of different NFT partnerships, including new relationships with Tom Brady’s Autograph and football-focused NFT platform Sorare, as part of a new NFT strategy that will enable players to have ownership over their digital highlights. The opt-in program will allow sports stars on the Tour to get paid for their name, image and likeness. Tour players were first notified last December about initial details around the program, and while many details still remain, the Tour has formally announced – in a roundabout way – that players will finally begin to see compensation for their highlights.

Racing NFTs Heating Up As The Rubber Hits The Road

Want a physical piece of an F1 car? FTX and their Formula 1 team partner Mercedes-AMG Petronas are releasing 1,000 limited-editions NFTs that will give owners a physical slice of a vehicle. Bidding begins next week – check out our full report for more details on the release and what to expect.

Solana NFT Projects DeGods Purchases A Stake In BIG3 Team ‘Killer 3s’

DeGods has established itself as arguably one of the most notable ‘blue-chip’ Solana NFT projects, and they’ve made a major investment in sports this past week, purchasing roughly $625K worth of ownership NFT shares in the ‘Killer 3s’ team in non-traditional basketball league BIG3. The BIG3 is offering ownership rights via NFTs for all of the league’s 12 teams, and the DeGods DAO swiftly scooped up all of the offered NFTs for Killer 3s at $25K a piece. BIG3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz stated:

“This is a huge step forward in the innovative ownership-like model we are creating for the league… BIG3 teams have not been organised around geographical locations so instead of being from a city or state our teams are going to represent communities. The DeGods bring a diverse, very active, and forward thinking fan base to our league and we are looking forward to them spearheading community fandom for their team. We are thrilled to welcome DeGods to the BIG3 and are looking forward to collaborating on the future of their team and the league overall.”

Related Reading | Can Ethereum Benefit From A Shift In ESG Narrative?

Solana's DeGods NFT project has purchased a major ownership share in a BIG3 team this past week.  | Source: SOL-USD on TradingView.com

Football Legend Ronaldinho’s New NFT Deal

For those who know football, Ronaldinho is a familiar name who was a long-term legend in the sport. The two-time FIFA World Player of the Year and FIFA World Cup winner (to name just a couple of his long list of accolades) announced his new creator token, $RON, in partnership with P00LS this week.

In a press release shared with Bitcoinist, Ronaldinho las launched his ERC-20 token this past week on the P00LS platform and is offering exclusive access and insights include direct fan dialogue and conversations, as well as gated events, content and merchandise. The announcement is a major pull for P00LS, a platform that is less than a year old and playing in the ever-competitive space of talent-focused NFT engagement; P00LS will look to build out a governance model and other major pillars in their relationship with the football legend.

Rumor Mill: Liverpool Eyeing Crypto Shirt Sponsor

In a new report from Sports Illustrated this week, the rumor mill is buzzing that football club Liverpool is targeting a crypto sponsor to replace it’s current headlining jersey partner, Standard Chartered, at the end of their current deal – which is set to close at the end of 2023. Liverpool is reportedly already in conversations with potential partners. The story was first reported by The Athletic. Standard Chartered has been a partner with the club for over a decade.

MLB NFT Record Shattered With A ~$500M Sale

Put your PSAs aside, this is as clean as they come. A Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps 1-of-1 NFT has auctioned for just shy of $500 million dollars this past week, a record-smashing NFT for MLB intellectual property as part of an auction on OpenSea. It is the third-highest sports NFT sale sold in history.

Related Reading | NFTs In A Nutshell: A Weekly Review

Featured image from Pexels, Charts from TradingView.com

The writer of this content is not associated or affiliated with any of the parties mentioned in this article. This is not financial advice.