Paying to attend February’s Super Bowl will do more than just get you into SoFi Stadium — you’ll also get an exclusive NFT version of your ticket.
The Super Bowl is already one of the most coveted (and expensive) tickets in sports. With fans having to drop thousands of dollars just to get through the gates, getting to see the game in person is merely a pipe dream for many.
That makes those who can attend Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California part of an exclusive community. And you can’t say “exclusive community” in 2022 without thinking about limited-edition NFTs. True to the spirit of the moment, the NFL will offer each attendee at this year’s Super Bowl a personalized non-fungible token ticket customized with their seat number.
Get on our list for weekly sports business, industry trends, interviews, and more.
This isn’t the league’s first foray into ticket NFTs, but it will definitely be the most high profile.
The NFL began offering such tokens in November to fans who purchased their tickets for select games through SeatGeek, StubHub, or Ticketmaster. The league distributed a total of 250,000 overall.
As it stands now, the Super Bowl NFTs are meant to be collectors‘ items — and there is a legit market for that, even if game-used tickets don’t typically go for five or six figures like other classes of memorabilia. That said, Sportico reports that the league may use these ticket NFTs as an entryway into future experiences and activations.
“For us, this is all about learning and better understanding what NFTs and this technology could offer in the future,” NFL SVP, club business development Robert Gallo said. “We recognize that we’re not even scratching the surface yet.”
The NFL has been quieter on the NFT front than leagues like the NBA, but the tide is starting to change. First forays into collectible NFT tickets began in the second half of the 2021 regular season, and the league has partnered with Dapper Labs to create NFL All Day, a platform similar to NBA Top Shot, which has already started selling NFTs on the Flow blockchain.
The mystery moving forward? What the secondary market looks like for NFL NFTs. So far, it hasn’t been too crazy — but what happens if this year’s Super Bowl is an instant classic and someone wants to make their digital ticket available for purchase?
However this shakes out, it’s clear that out in Inglewood, a ticket will be worth more than just the price of admission. We’re only seeing the beginning of the NFL’s adventures in crypto land.
Get on our list for weekly sports business, industry trends, interviews, and more.
