The exclusive NFT partner of Major League Baseball kicks things off with “MLB Play of the Day,” with collectibles celebrating the World Series coming soon.
On Wednesday, Candy Digital, the digital collectibles company backed by Fanatics, Galaxy Digital, and Gary Vaynerchuk, kicked off its NFT platform in beta.
Fans can register on Candy.com and directly purchase offerings from three new limited-edition, officially licensed Major League Baseball non-fungible token series. The first series, MLB Play of the Day, debuted Wednesday and showcases the most exciting play from the previous night’s action as chosen by MLB Network. Top plays from each day of the postseason will now be available for purchase.
From here on out, each day’s biggest moment will go live in NFT form at noon ET and will only be available until midnight. However many NFTs are bought that day, that’s how many will be minted and in circulation. Play of the Day will run through the World Series and then will return for the start of the 2022 regular season.
“Our approach to video here is a little bit different than some of the other video-based sports collectibles, where we’re not treating a video highlight as a series of collectibles,” Candy Digital CEO Scott Lawin told Boardroom. “What we’re doing is we are taking the most significant, exciting, or important moment that day in the sport of baseball and minting that on a limited basis.”
Play of the Day will allow fans to collect the NFTs that they want and build their collection how they choose, rather than purchasing blind packs in this format.
“It’s a brand new format to the market,” Lawin said. “Our approach to the market with MLB is to really create an ecosystem of different types of collectible products that speak to the ways that fans both follow and engage with the players.”
On Oct. 26, Candy will release its more traditional 2021 MLB Icon packs, a player-based product focused on all 81 All-Stars from this season along with 30 top prospects. That’ll help set up the 2022 product set, which will feature every MLB player, with some differentiating factors from a video-only NFT product. Icon packs will help connect people to the sport in different ways, with no one-size-fits-all solution, Lawin said.
After the completion of the World Series, Candy will release commemorative NFTs to celebrate the winners, with details to be announced when a champion is crowned.
Previously, Candy Digital launched a 1-of-1 NFT of Lou Gehrig “Luckiest Man” speech, raising $95,444 for charity, as well as an NFT celebrating the Los Angeles Dodgers 2020 World Series rings, which raised $130,000.
“Since its launch earlier this year, Candy has given fans a fresh approach to engage with Baseball through this new collectible space,” said Kenny Gersh, MLB’s executive vice president of business development.“We’re excited for our fans to have another unique way of celebrating the most memorable moments from the 2021 MLB Postseason, through the World Series.”
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Lawin said Candy’s short-term goal is to build the company’s customer base and reach out to existing MLB fans in partnership with Fanatics into their own channels to educate fans on a new series of collectibles.
“And then over time, from Candy’s perspective,” he said, “we’re focused on building the premier destination for officially licensed digital assets across sports.”
Lawin said Candy is focused on working with other leagues, teams, and athletes to create fan-based ecosystems. And with Fanatics’ ever-growing reach on board, Candy’s upcoming offering may be too sweet for sports and NFT fans to resist.
