The firm behind NBA Top Shot, Dapper Labs, and top crypto derivatives exchange FTX, are jointly making an NFT marketplace for the National Football League (NFL) as a component of their development drives.

Dapper Labs, popularly known for CryptoKitties, is supposedly working on an NFL collectibles marketplace, while FTX has marked an endorsement deal with star-running back Aaron Jones of the Green Bay Packers. The NFL Players Association and NFL will share equity in Dapper Labs as part of the deal.  

As per Sports Business Journal sources, the new NFL marketplace is relied upon to launch before the 2022 season starts. As part of the deal to launch tokenized NFL collectibles Dapper Labs will turn into the second-largest source of digital licensing revenue for the NFL Players Association.

Dapper Labs gets credit for reviving NFTs. Dapper created Ethereum-based digital collectibles CryptoKitties, the first major NFT project. It has also expanded to the WNBA and Spanish football with a La Liga collaboration since the launching of the NBA Top Shot in 2020.

Recently, in a funding round drove by Coatue, it raised $250 million with support from Andreessen Horowitz. It’s now valued at $7.6 billion, which is $5 billion more than it was after a March funding round. NBA Top Shot was a vast success by several metrics. But still, the success of an NFL version is not guaranteed until now.

Caty Tedman, the Dapper Labs head of partnerships, said, “If you think about the NFL, they don’t always do it first, but they try to do it best. So learning from the NBA is very much in their playbook. When we think about the kind of products that we would build with other partners, we think about customizing them for those fan bases. We can’t just slap NFL players on NBA Top Shot and make it work.”

Rushali Das

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA