NHL forays into NFTs in collaboration with Sweet
A professional ice hockey league in North America, the National Hockey League, has 32 teams: 25 from the United States and seven from Canada. One of the premier pro sports leagues in the U.S and Canada, it is regarded as the best ice hockey league in the world.
According to their announcement, the NHL, NHLPA, and NHLAA have named Sweet as the Official NFT Digital Collectibles Marketplace and Official NFT Partner.
Details about the collaboration
With this long-term partnership, the NHL will be able to develop a variety of distinctive NFT projects. And by doing so, they might give ardent admirers or collectors fresh opportunities to expand their collections.
Users will be able to buy, sell, acquire, and trade never-before-offered items from NHL history, according to the NHL. The NHL marketplace, run by Sweet, will provide a unique and fulfilling engagement experience for the entire network of the NHL.
Tom Mizzone, the CEO of Sweet, said,
“We’re honored to be partnering on an industry-first launch with an organization as globally renowned as the NHL. Working closely with the League and the Associations, we’ve curated some visually stunning action-packed moments, leveraging in-play gamification to create a genuinely engaging and unique relationship between collectibles and experiences.”
He continued by saying that using in-play gamification creates a truly intriguing and unique link between artifacts and experiences. They’ve chosen some “aesthetically outstanding” action-packed moments as a consequence.
The NHL’s Sweet marketplace is projected to open in October when the 2022–2023 season begins.
Surprise NFT packs would be available
NHL’s statement stated, “The stand-alone NHL platform custom-built for this program by Sweet will showcase current and historic moments as well as iconic elements of the game in the form of non-fungible tokens.”
Additionally, some NFTs will change over time and be dynamic per a player’s performance. Added surprises could come from NFT packs that can be viewed in 3D interactive trophy chambers or movie-like game highlights from previous and current NHL seasons.
This connection will be the first of its type to be category-exclusive. The release states that for the first time, the NHL, NHLPA, and NHLAA have teamed up to give NFTs in the form of contemporary and vintage video clips and artifacts from throughout the League, featuring great players and NHL legends of the past and present.
The NHL, NHLPA, and Sweet work together to provide fans with these digital hockey collections. Glenn Healy, executive director of the NHL Alumni Association, expressed his pleasure about the partnership, “Sweet has done an incredible job of building the innovative platform and products that will bring NHL NFT Digital Collectibles to life. This collaboration has been worth the wait as fans will be able to access their favorite hockey history moments while we do our part to honor the past.”
The announcement also mentioned that Sweet would offer quests and challenges on The NHL marketplace, encouraging fan participation because they are collectible.
“The NHL marketplace operated by Sweet will also host quests and challenges that increase fan engagement through their collectability.”
Special stadium packs will also be available, featuring footage from the NHL’s top events, including the NHL Winter Classic®, NHL Stadium SeriesTM, and NHL Heritage ClassicTM.
We have been seeing an increased interest in sports fraternities for NFTs. Recently, soccer star Ronaldo announced his plan to make NFTs.