By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 22nd, 2024
Candy will facilitate MLB with a dedicated Baseball NFT ecosystem allowing users to view, purchase, collect, and trade NFTs. The first NFT sale on the platform will be Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” iconic speech delivered on July 4, 1939.
On Tuesday, June 1, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced its partnership with a newly formed sports NFT company Candy Digital. The partnership involves Candy building an MLB ecosystem that can officially but, trade, and share licensed baseball content NFTs.
Candy Digital has the backing of some big crypto industry players like Galaxy Digital and sports merchandiser Fanatics. The NFT market has exploded this year with several digital collectible art forms raising millions of dollars. Entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuk see a massive opportunity in the NFT marketplace and he is also a part of Candy Digital.
Baseball Content NFTs
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are unique cryptographic tokens that one cannot replicate. It could basically be a digital representation of anything that is scarce. Sports NFTs have also grown in popularity massively and MLB sees a good opportunity here.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has already launched its own NFT marketplace NBA Top Shot which has gained massive popularity and has crossed $700 million in sales recently. Speaking about this recent partnership, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said:
“From trading cards to autographed balls, baseball fans have demonstrated their passion for the sport and its players through collectibles for decades. In working with Candy Digital to offer NFTs to MLB fans, we’re delivering an exciting new addition to the robust baseball collectible market. The founders of Candy are a dynamic group of executives with an impressive track record. We’re excited to be the first partner in this new venture with a team uniquely positioned for success.”
Lou Gehrig’s ‘Luckiest Man’ NFT
The first NFT from Candy Digital and MLB will be Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” iconic speech delivered on July 4, 1939, at Yankee Stadium. Thus, the release of this NFT will also happen on the same day next month. The announcement notes that the proceeds of the sale for the Gehrig NFT will support the ALS charities.
Interestingly, this is not MLB’s first stint with NFTs. The platform already produces trading card NFTs in partnership with Topps. However, the partnership with Digital Candy allows it to offer a wider range of baseball digital collectibles. this includes baseball card-style NFTs, memorabilia-style NFTs, play highlight NFTs, or or artwork-style NFTs portraying big moments on the field.
On Candy’s NFT platform, fans shall be able to view, purchase, collect, and trade the NFTs.
“At its core, Candy is about allowing everyone to own a piece of their passion – whether that be sports or gaming, fashion or art, music or pop culture, the goal is to broaden the fanbase of digital collectibles. Both Candy and our pioneering partner Major League Baseball live at the intersection of passion, community, innovation, and digital transformation – the sweet spot,” said Michael Rubin said.