Mastercard Launch Arnold Palmer Golf Onchain Apparel

🔌 Quick plug: We’ve just announced our next events in April, in Paris, Dubai and New York respectively.

• Sign up for Paris, on the 9th of April, during Paris Blockchain Week…

• Sign up for Dubai, on 30th April, during Token2049

• Sign up for Sports Blockchain Summit in NYC on the 28th of May here.

Bay Hill Capsule Overview ⛳️ 

9dcc, an onchain fashion and lifestyle brand, have partnered with Mastercard to create an NFT-linked apparel series during the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

It’s called ‘Pass to Priceless': Bay Hill Capsule’ — Bay Hill, Florida, being the tournament's location.

It allows Mastercard cardholders to select from nine curated items, the most expensive of which is priced at $50.

9dcc embeds NFC chips into physical products and connects them to NFTs, creating a more extensive digital experience with their holders. For example, holders of the products can engage in certain activities to earn network points, ranking them in a leaderboard.

For the Bay Hill Capsule experience, buyers can tap their phones to the chips to be rewarded with a digital collectible, a twin of their physical item that may provide them with exclusive access to “priceless possibilities” in the future. 

Mastercard Pass To Priceless 💳️ 

Pass to Priceless is Mastercard’s onchain digital experiences platform, allowing Mastercard customers to participate in ‘programs’ linked to Mastercard sponsors. For example, the UEFA Champions League Trivia Experience and indeed last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational Activation.

It debuted last year and has had several experiences in which Mastercard cardholders can participate in.

Analysis & Concluding Thoughts 🧠

Mastercard have essentially exported the delivery of digital experiences onchain through partners, beginning with their Pass to Priceless Platform, built in collaboration with MoonPay-owned agency Otherlife. This provides them with a solid foundation to create repeatable experiences across their diverse sponsorship portfolio.

And this makes sense.

When you're already spending tens of millions of dollars on sponsoring tier 1 properties like the UEFA Champions League and PGA Tour tournaments, allocating a percentage of that budget in excess to build something you can activate repeatedly year-on-year is a smart way to approach this space.

The timing is particularly relevant given three industry trends.

(1) The sports business model is changing.

A late 2024 study by PTI Digital revealed that 40% of rights holders surveyed (UK respondents) believed both sponsorship and direct-to-consumer digital products have significant growth potential—ahead of traditional revenue streams like ticketing, retail and hospitality.

69% of respondents predicted total revenues would either remain flat or decline in the next 12 months, with a mere 2% expecting media rights to deliver major revenue growth in the next five years.

This highlights a broader challenge: the sports industry is trying to improve revenue sources beyond broadcast and media rights.

And that survey is telling us sponsors like Mastercard, could be the answer.

(2) Concurrently, however, sponsors are under intense scrutiny to demonstrate a return on investment.

I've spoken with numerous C-suite and marketing leaders—both from crypto firms sponsoring sports and mainstream brands—who consistently face pressure from their superiors about quantifying ROI.