Sports industry is among the few sectors experimenting with non-fungible tokens for a while now. The market downturn has spread chaos in associated markets but the crypto sector has started recovering again. This means NFT space may see a potential uprising too. Philadelphia 76ers, a professional American basketball team, recently announced that they are airdropping third out of their four Heritage NFT collection drops on March 20, 2023.
Football and Basketball Remains Most Active Sports in NFT Sector
According to the official press release, holders of previous collections, Loaded Lions and 76ers Legacy, are already eligible for the drop. However, ineligible users can mint the NFT during public access. 76ers Heritage – Born and Raised collection focused on how they’ve stepped their game up, a journey to the global stage. The buyers will get access to VIP experiences and custom designed merchandise through this collection.
The collection also categorizes different series including the Original Series, The Icon Series and The Signature Series. All the collections guarantee some utility for the primary buyers including custom NFT 76ers pennants, hats and more. The Heritage NFT collection is a mark of Philadelphia’s basketball history which will inscribe its name using the blockchain technology.
Philadelphia 76ers, also known as Sixers, was founded in 1946 and is among the oldest National Basketball Association (NBA) franchises present in the game today. The team has represented several hall of famers including Billy Cunningham, Allen Iverson, Hal Greer and more. To this date, the team has won three NBA championships.
Football and basketball remain two of the greatest sports actively seeking to attract users from NFT space. Golden State Warriors, a San Francisco-based basketball team, announced their 2022 Playoff NFT collection with now bankrupt FTX. The proceeds as per the announcement went to Warriors Community Foundation.
Paris Saint-Germain, a French football team, released NFT tickets to their Japan tour in July 2022. The initiative celebrated the team’s return to the country after 27 years. Players including Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr, Kylian Mbappe and more joined the tour. The tokens enabled access to the VIP room and party for the holders where they were able to click photos with PSG players.
Former Barcelona star, Lionel Messi, also struck a deal with Sorare, an NFT game, in November 2022. Company’s co-founder told CNBC that the collaboration will help to step up their game. Moreover, Leo partnered with Socios, a fan token company, to become the brand ambassador of the website.
In March 2022, David Beckham announced a partnership with DigitalBits blockchain and became global brand ambassador of the company. Several other sports personalities including Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal and more have set foot into the blockchain space before. NFT and crypto assets use blockchain as their underlying technology but its use cases go beyond.
Anurag is working as a fundamental writer for The Coin Republic since 2021. He likes to exercise his curious muscles and research deep into a topic. Though he covers various aspects of the crypto industry, he is quite passionate about the Web3, NFTs, Gaming, and Metaverse, and envisions them as the future of the (digital) economy. A reader & writer at heart, he calls himself an “average guitar player” and a fun footballer.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/03/20/philadelphia-76ers-third-heritage-nft-drop-is-going-live-today/