Sweet, a distribution platform for non-fungible tokens (NFT), is now the official NFT partner of the NHL, the NHL Players Association, and the NHL Alumni Association. This licensing deal is one of the most significant in league history.
This multi-year partnership, which is scheduled to launch in the 2022-23 NHL seasons, brings together the NHLPA, NHLAA, and NHLPA to offer NFTs using archival video moments, collectibles, and current video moments. They'll feature NHL players and teams.
Sweet is developing a standalone NHL marketplace to sell NFTs. The goal is to reach the collectors market as well and to allow fans to enjoy a variety of hockey experiences with the tokens.
“The thing that made us choose Sweet was their willingness and ability to create something for the NHL and our fans,” Dave Lehanski (the NHL's executive vice-president for business development, innovation and marketing), told ESPN. “Anything past and present is available and in a consolidated market.
It includes players' NFTs, since it is a complete partnership between the NHL (and its players associations).
Mathieu Schneider assistant to the NHLPA executive director said, “We look forward to collaborating avec Sweet to promote our sport like never before.
Lehanski admitted that some people might think it took too long to get in the NFT space, but disagreed that it was a disadvantage to the NHL.
“If we did something back in the day when everyone told us to, we wouldn’t be able think long-term, and we wouldn’t have been capable of seeing what everyone else had done. He stated that we will be better prepared than some of those entities that entered into it a year earlier.”
This includes the ability to accept the volatility of NFT markets, as well as the uncertainty surrounding them.
We don't believe those who claim NFTs are real. We spent a lot time talking to people in this space and they all said the same thing. “There will be short-term volatility, but longer-term NFTs are absolutely going be here and be viable means of building consumer products,” he stated.
The NHLPA, NHLAA, and NHL are planning NFT innovations. These include specialty packs, gamified collection experience, interactive trophy rooms, 3D interactive trophy areas in which users can showcase their collections, and dynamic NFTs that change based upon current team data. There will also be quests and challenges to increase fan engagement.
Tom Mizzone (CEO of Sweet) said that it was an honor and a first for the industry to launch with an organization like the NHL. We have created some stunning, action-packed moments by working closely with the Leagues and the Associations. This leverages in-play gaming to create an engaging, unique relationship between collectibles.
