Free posters, batting gloves and bobbleheads are great, but the Seattle Mariners use futuristic technology to celebrate baseball’s past with a non-fungible token (NFT) giveaway at an upcoming game.
The digital collectible will take the form of a commemorative ticket for fans participating in game one of a double header against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday. The artwork features current players JP Crawford, Logan Gilbert and Ty France and pays tribute to Seattle Steelheads, a 1946 Negro League franchise.
A custom notation of the game’s date, matchup and ticket holder’s seat placements is also included, according to the Mariners. For fans who are more used to tracking RBI, OBP and ERA instead of NFT, you can get more details in this Mariners FAQ.
The team works with Candy Digital, a division of the sports e-commerce company Fanatics, which offers digital assets for fans and collectors and acts as Major League Baseball’s official NFT ecosystem. NFL legend Peyton Manning is among the investors in the company, which was worth 1.5 billion dollars last fall.
“We are constantly looking for innovative ways to enhance our fan experience, and creating this digital collectible is a new way for fans to connect to the rich history of the Negro leagues and baseball in the Northwest,” Gregg Greene, Marketing Director for Mariners, said in a statement.
To receive the NFT, fans must have a game ticket in the MLB Ballpark app or the Apple Wallet for the game at T-Mobile Park. Those who are present with a ticket will receive a redemption email around 20 June.
NFTs are a budding technology that allows people to secure unique ownership of artwork, videos, images and other digital content on the blockchain. The mania took off in the last couple of years, with sales of digital art, avatars and more reaching levels of several million dollars.
But sales are declining and an “NFT decline is real” according to recent data, indicating that the crypto or web3 market is in a correction period – what some describe as a “winter”, TechCrunch reported.
The Mariners join other Seattle sports teams entering the game.
The Seattle Kraken NHL team and Climate Pledge Arena dropped an NFT collection with a limited edition consisting of seven designs “that capture the essence of the Kraken brand” last season. Seattle Sounders FC and Major League Soccer also embraced the hype of street art NFTs associated with a game against Portland in May 2021.
