NHL Champions Vegas Golden Knights Announce Free NFT Collection

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Introduction 🔌🔧

Welcome back to Sporting Crypto!

This week, Coinbase and SEC go to war once more in the US, as a federal judge expressed fear that the SEC has cast too wide a net with its recent interpretation of securities laws, which could have huge ramifications for future legislation.

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ETFs are here and drawing huge pools of investor capital, and legislation feels like it needs to catch up.

With a major election on the horizon, it feels as though we are at some sort of tipping point in the US with crypto, and hopefully it tips in the direction of progressive, clear regulation that promotes growth — as we’re starting to see in the EU, parts of Asia and the Middle East. 🔌 We are looking for sponsors for the newsletter throughout 2024 (mid-roll) and for partners for our events in Barcelona (February), NYC & Dubai (April) and London (June). Email me back at this address if you are interested!

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In this week’s newsletter, we cover the NHL Champions — Vegas Golden Knights — collaborating with Theta Labs to create free NFTs for their audience that are claimable in stadium, or from the comfort of your own while fans watch online.

Discussed in this newsletter:

⌛ Vegas Golden Knights’ Free NFT Collection 🤝 Theta Labs🧠 Concluding thoughts and analysis

⌛ Vegas Golden Knights’ Free NFT Collection

Vegas Golden Knights—the 2023 National Hockey League (NHL) champions—have announced a collection of free NFTs for their fanbase.

The collection, created in partnership with blockchain video and AI company Theta Labs, offers exclusive access to games, team memorabilia, and events. The Golden Knights’ NFTs will launch on the Theta blockchain.

To claim one, fans will need to watch the Golden Knights during a live game, in-person or online. Users won’t need a crypto wallet, seed phrase, or exchange — they will be able to sign up email address and password. According to what is in the public domain so far, it is yet to be decided if these NFTs will be tradeable on a secondary marketplace after they are claimed.

💬Some quotes

Jerry Kowal, Theta Labs head of content and NFTs told the publication NFT NOW:

Mitch Lui, Co-Founder and CEO of Theta Labs said: 

Vegas Golden Knights President and CEO Kerry Bubolz said:

As per a statement on the Vegas Golden Knights site: 

To summarise: 

• NHL Champions Vegas Golden Knights are launching free NFTs

• They are to be built on the Theta blockchain by Theta Labs

• The NFTs will be claimable by fans watching games in person or at home

• No crypto wallet or exchange required to participate

• These NFTs will provide access to exclusive game tickets and VIP experiences

🤝 Theta Labs

Theta Labs pitch themselves as “Web3 Blockchain Infrastructure for Video, AI & Entertainment”. 

They have a host of impressive media advisors such as the co-founders of YouTube and Twitch, as well as current execs from Verizon, Rakuten and GFUEL.

Their investors include Sony, CAA, Samsung Next, Blockchain.com and several other big names.

It’s a name in itself that hasn’t been brought up on Sporting Crypto before, but it seems they are specializing in video.

More specifically, it looks like the Theta chain, that Theta Labs have created, is looking closely at how video content can be stored, shared and authenticated using their decentralised technology.

As per their whitepaper: 

Essentially, Theta is a network much like a cloud service, but in a distributed manner, specialising in video.

🧠 Concluding thoughts and analysis

It is difficult to decipher how well or just exactly how this partnership will pan out because there is a lack of granular information publicly available. The announcement is fairly sparse and detail is scarce. That being said, I’ll be honest I do like what has been teased out so far. I’ll go into why, shortly, but before I do, this is a partnership in which the commercial relationship is unclear and unpublicised. I'm not sure if this is a licensing agreement or a services agreement. I would imagine (I’m speculating here) that this is a co-owned venture whereby Theta is paid a percentage of revenues. How this is structured, goes a long way into predicting how well the execution and outcome might be.

Broadly speaking, I'm quite excited to see how sports-related collectibles, or more generally, how Web3 technology can impact sports in a much more abstract way, other than just leveraging IP and selling collectibles. Even though this partnership will leverage the intellectual property of the Vegas Golden Knights, I do think something is interesting about the interactivity of what is being proposed here. The ability to claim collectibles in a stadium or from your home whilst watching a game could be an interesting starting point to develop into something more holistic; an engagement program on Web3 rails generating an on-chain network of fans.

The ability to create an on-chain network of fans is severely underestimated and something that many sports properties should start doing now if they haven’t done so already.

In a world where the power of cookies and data is waning due to legislation globally, Web3 rails could help.

Remember when FC Barcelona’s sponsorship deal with Spotify was on the rocks because they could only show a database of 3 million fans, rather than the 350 million they claimed to have globally? Manchester United Football Club for example had almost 1 million NFT claims from their free NFT launch last season, and McLaren have had over 650k individual claimers in 2023. These numbers aren’t small anymore and should be taken seriously.

In my predictions for 2024 — predictions 4 and 5 were:

4. Free-to-mint and cheap products dominate the Sports Web3 market5. Broadcasters/Streaming Companies Venture into Web3 Rights

This proposed activation by Theta and Vegas Golden Knights is exciting if we go by the bare details. We’ve seen projects like Watch-2-Earn by Bleacher Report accrue millions of token claims, and I think a proposition that incorporates rewards through watching a team, either in person or digitally, with a more holistic loyalty program will gain good traction. This could be the case especially when their Web2 equivalents in sports are either terrible or non-existent.

The era of the on-chain fan feels like it’s fast approaching, and maybe quicker than anticipated.

💡 Sporting Crypto Spotlight - Ep. 12 of the Podcast!

In Ep. 12 of the Podcast I was lucky enough to speak to Drew Austin, Founding Partner of Red Beard Capital!

Watch the episode on YouTube!

Or your podcast player of choice… if you’d prefer not to see our faces!

🍎 Find us on Apple Podcasts here [Link]

✅ Find us on Spotify here [Link]

More Sports & Web3 Stories

• OKX Upgrades Partership with McLaren Formula 1 Team in 2024 (Read more here)

• Despite Facing $1 Billion Lawsuit in USA, Cristiano Ronaldo Continues Partnership With Crypto Firm Binance (Read more here)

• RTFKT launch Clone-X Kit (Read more here)

• Darewise, Animoca Brands Japan, Honda, Team up to Co-develop Web3 Automotive gameplay (Read more here)

• Sports stars such as Victor Matfield, Herschelle Gibbs and Lucas Radebe have helped to market a crypto scheme against which the authorities in several countries, including South Africa, are warning investors against (Read more here)

General ‘Stuff’ that Could Impact You

• Starbucks Korea’s Green Step: NFTs for Sustainable Cup Choices (Read more here)

• Andrew Petcash: Fusing Fan Engagement with Technology in Sports (Read more here)

• Coinbase and the SEC argue crypto's key legal question in court (Read more here)

• Buying frenzy for Solana Mobile’s second phone drives preorders sky-high (Read more here)

• Bitcoin Instantly Topped Silver in ETF Market and Trails Only Gold Among Commodities (Read more here)

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