Yesterday the football publisher OneFootball announced it has acquired the rights to issue video highlights of Italy’s Series A football as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It expects to mint 1,300 moments in the coming Lega Serie A season on its Aera marketplace. Additionally, it has rights for historical video moments and other events such as Coppa Itali and the Supercoppa Italiana.
“Today marks the start of a new way for Italian clubs to connect with all our younger fans around the globe,” said Luigi De Siervo, Lega Serie A CEO. “Together with OneFootball, we put the fans first by bringing them incredible new experiences, this time digitally.”
Selling video highlights as NFTs or moments was popularized by Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot which has turned over more than $1 billion. The vast majority of that money went to NFT holders who re-sold their collectibles. But Dapper makes 5% on all secondary market sales.
Meanwhile, in April, OneFootball announced a $300 million funding round and a web3 joint venture, One Football Labs, with blockchain games firm Animoca Brands and Dapper Labs. Dapper has the moments rights to several sports, including the NFL, NBA, UFC as well as Spain’s La Liga football. It launched the Flow blockchain, which OneFootball uses to issue its NFTs.
A month later, the Bundesliga announced it had granted OneFootball the rights to mint video moments as NFTs as well as digital trading cards. Sorare, the fantasy football NFT platform, had previously said it had Bundesliga video rights but announced an extension of its fantasy football contract on the same day.
The big European League that has yet to officially announce its NFT deals is the Premier League. In March, The Athletic reported that Dapper Labs had won the rights to video moments and ConsenSys the collectibles. Given that there are only two weeks before the season starts, we might get an announcement soon.
