Attendees of the Super Bowl LVI will receive a souvenir NFT along with their ticket, as part of a partnership between the NFL and Ticketmaster.
The NFT will be marked with the fan's unique section, row, and seat, according to a press release accompanying the announcement.
For the time being, the NFL is issuing NFTs as a "digital keepsake," but it is evaluating the space "for future ticketing and event engagement opportunities," said the league's SVP of Club Business Development, Bobby Gallo.
"Collecting ticket stubs has always been something our fans love to do, especially for the season’s biggest game, and offering customized Super Bowl NFTs allows us to enhance the gameday experience," Gallo added.
Alongside fans' souvenir NFTs, the NFL is also releasing a series of seven historic commemorative NFTs in the run-up to Super Bowl LVI. One NFT will be released each day from February 6 to February 13, when an NFT featuring the current Super Bowl LVI ticket artwork will be released.
NFTs for the participating teams, the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals, have also been released; the winning team will also be commemorated with a final NFT after the game.
NFL and Ticketmaster Launch Ticket Stub NFTs on Polygon
NFTs are replacing ticket stubs for the National Football League, at least for the rest of the games this year. The league today announced that fans attending games through the end of 2021 will be able to receive a “virtual commemorative ticket” as an NFT in a Ticketmaster digital wallet. The NFTs themselves will live on the Polygon network, like Tom Brady’s Autograph platform. An NFT is a unique type of blockchain-based token that can be used to prove ownership over a digital item, and these to...
It's not the first time the NFL and Ticketmaster have experimented with commemorative NFTs; last year, attendees of games from November through the end of the year were able to claim a "virtual commemorative ticket" as an NFT.
Super Bowl LVI and crypto
The Super Bowl is set to be something of a coming-of-age party for cryptocurrency, with a big advertising push from crypto businesses accompanying the event.
Crypto Ads Set to Invade Super Bowl 56
Crypto is coming to the Super Bowl. On February 13, the Cincinnati Bengals will face the Los Angeles Rams in Los Angeles. And the broadcast will feature more crypto than ever before. FTX, the $32 billion crypto derivatives exchange that has been on a sports marketing spending spree in the past year, bought a Super Bowl ad in October. Just days before Christmas, rival exchange Crypto.com followed suit. The cost of an ad in this year’s game (Super Bowl LVI) is $6.5 million for just 30 seconds of...
Crypto exchanges FTX and Crypto.com have both bought prestigious ad slots during the event, while rumors abound that Bored Ape Yacht Club could figure as part of the half time show, which features rappers Eminem and Snoop Dogg—both of whom own BAYC collectibles.
The exchanges' advertising is part of a wider move into the sports arena.
FTX has signed a 19-year deal with the NBA's Miami Heat to become its "official and exclusive" crypto partner, renaming the team's home stadium the FTX Arena. The exchange has also inked deals with the Golden State Warriors, the Washington Wizards, and the NHL's Washington Capitals.
FTX's sports push has "penetrated more than anything else we've done combined, in terms of people's perception of us," CEO Sam Bankman-Fried told Decrypt's gm podcast.
