• by Colin Kirkland , February 4, 2022

Every person who attends Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles on February 13 will receive an official non-fungible token (NFT). To engage with fans and commemorate Game Day, each of these NFTs will feature the buyer’s unique section, row and seat at SoFi Arena.

With mobile tickets increasing in popularity, it’s easy for professional sports leagues to slide into the NFT space.

Back in January, the New York Rangers released a select number of tickets as NFTs as a promotional strategy that used souvenirs and collectibles as an incentive. Tickets are a promising way for NFT projects to embody a specific utility –– a feature that fashion brands have already figured out with wearables made for virtual realms.

The National Football League's Super Bowl NFTs will more or less do the same thing as the Rangers, but for free.

These NFT tickets will also act as promotional material for “NFL All Day,” a crypto trading-card game similar to the NBA's Top Shot, the fifth-largest NFT project to date.

The game shares the same developer –– Dapper Labs. Although “NFL All Day” is still in closed beta, the game is set to roll out to the public by the end of this football season.

This is not the NFL's first foray into crypto. Robert Gallo, senior vice president at the NFL's club business development, told Cointelegraph that the NFL started releasing virtual commemorative tickets in the form of free NFTs back in November 2021. Within three months, the club had distributed over 250,000 NFTs.

“We witnessed great success with this one-of-a-kind fan experience, which provided the momentum to continue this program throughout the postseason and ultimately at Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles,” says Gallo. 

Gallo adds that these free customizable NFTs will also help the club “evaluate the NFT space for future ticketing and event engagement opportunities.” This makes sense when considering the NFL’s soon-to-come collection of limited edition Super Bowl LVI NFTs.

The virtual NFT tickets are minted on the Polygon blockchain and can be viewed on the NFL's official NFT website.