PGA Tour Golf NFTs coming next year via autograph partnership – Sportico.com

The PGA Tour officially announced a partnership with NFT company Autograph on Monday, with plans to launch a digital collection platform early next year and distribute all revenue from the program directly to its member players.

While product details are still being determined, the NFTs will be sold on a new platform, which includes tournament video (both past and present) as well as more advanced shot data.

Turen started this process late last year with an RFP for the video collector category. After going through several bids and choosing Autograph – a company founded by Tom Brady that has also worked with Tiger Woods, among other sports stars – you’ve got the players on board.

“We probably spent four or five weeks straight on the road,” PGA Tour VP, media business development Chris Wandell said in an interview. to be and all the ways players can derive value.”

Wandell said the “vast majority” of players have chosen to participate in the program. Certain players, based on their season ranking, were given guarantees of future payment, while all will benefit financially from the earnings of NFTs displaying them.

“We really want our players to push NFTs and help be a part of the marketing process,” Wandell said. “Hopefully they’ll be rewarded for that if it’s successful.”

Amid competition from LIV Golf, the tour increased tournament payouts by $60 million to $427 million this season, with an additional pot set aside to reward popular athletes.

In a now infamous interview with golf reporter Alan Shipnuck, Phil Mickelson criticized the tour for “sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of digital content that we could use for our social media feeds.” He specifically mentioned the potential for creating NFTs as well. – The players must own all of this. We played those shots, we created those moments, we should be the ones to serve,” Mickelson said.

The PGA Tour is also reportedly close to a deal with Sorare to develop a fantasy NFT platform to go with the Autograph-built collectible.

“This is going to feel like one of the bigger projects that Autograph has launched,” said Autograph founder Dillon Rosenblatt, adding that the company would hire a point person for the product. Recently, Autograph released $750 “season ticket” NFTs featuring Brady that come with access to in-person events and online content.

“Autograph’s goal is to create what we believe could be the future of fandom, a more rewarding and connected experience around either the game or the icon that people love,” said Rosenblatt.