There are suggestions that both Dapper Labs and the NFL are wagering on the league’s popularity to drive public interest in this type of marketplace again.
Dapper Labs will announce a deal with the NFL and NFLPA on an NFT marketplace, reports say. This marketplace will be similar to Dapper’s hit NBA Top Shot. Reports suggest that the new marketplace will be launching before the end of the current NFL season in January.
While the exact terms of the deal are yet unknown, reports suggest that the NFT marketplace could make Dapper Labs the second-largest licensing partner of the NFLPA after EA Sports. Per the partnership, Dapper will produce blockchain-backed moments. The company will also produce digital cards of NFL highlights, stars, and legends.
The NFL and NFLPA will each take an equity stake in Dapper Labs too as part of the partnership. Interestingly, earlier in the month, NFL banned all teams from entering into partnership deals with crypto trading firms or NFTs ‘…until the league established a strategy for the same.’
The Road to an NFT Marketplace for the NFL
NFTs first became popular last year with many companies and individuals jumping on board. While the NFL initially held back on the trend, it’s now set to take full advantage of launching a marketplace. There are suggestions that both Dapper Labs and the NFL are wagering on the league’s popularity to drive public interest in this type of marketplace again.
Similar to Dapper Lab’s NBA Top Shot, it is expected that video content will form a core aspect of the new NFT marketplace. So far, the NBA Top Shot has traded collectibles worth $780 million since October 2020.
Dapper Labs latest move comes after the company closed a $250 million funding round on Sept. 22nd and achieved a market valuation of $7.6 billion. The funding round was led by Coatue and joined by Google’s GV and Andreesen Horowitz.
Head of Partnership with Dapper Labs, Caty Tedman, had in March stated that the company was talking with many major leagues about similar NFT marketplaces like the NBA Top Shot. It didn’t come across as a surprise then that the company announced a similar deal with La Liga last week and with the WNBA in August.
Given the crypto-friendly players of the NFL, it was only a matter of time before such a deal was closed. One of such players, Tom Brady, launched the Autograph NFT marketplace. Others like Trevon Lawrence and Saquon Barkley also have varying endorsement deals.
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