NFL champions, the LA Rams, have reached a deal for a season-long partnership with Dapper Labs to sell NFTs, starting with their Super Bowl rings. The Rams are the first team to collaborate on Dapper Labs’ newest venture, Team NFTs. The initial drop will go on sale from August 11 and features images of the iconic Rams Super Bowl LVI Rings with prices starting at $9.
Dapper has already licensed NFL video moments for its NFL All Day offering. Rather than a blanket league deal, Team NFTs involve partnerships with individual NFL Teams, allowing fans to represent their favorite team on NFL All Day. So while it’s a separate deal, the objective is to promote engagement with NFL All Day. Team NFTs provide owners with exclusive perks and benefits within the platform and create new ways to show sports loyalty in the metaverse.
Individual team partnerships are not the norm for Dapper Labs, having never done a deal with an individual NFL team before. Most of its biggest licensing agreements have been with sporting leagues such as the NBA Top Shot, UFC and NFL All Day to sell NFTs of individual video moments. The Rams’ historic Super Bowl win and the publicity they attract make them an ideal partner for the NFT platform to promote NFL All Day and tap into revenue from a diehard fanbase.
Dapper Labs has been instrumental in increasing public awareness of NFTs. Together with the huge publicity Beeple generated from his $69m NFT art sale, arguably Dapper’s NBA Top Shot was one of the key triggers behind NFTs going mainstream. It is no accident that NBA Top Shot sales have exceeded $1 billion to date.
On the soccer front, it is speculated that Dapper Labs may be a frontrunner to produce Premier League NFT moments. It also has an NFT partnership with Spain’s top soccer league, LaLiga. The company recently embarked on a web3 joint venture with OneFootball and Animoca Brands called One Football Labs, which aims to develop blockchain-based fan experiences. And OneFootball recently landed NFT moment rights to Serie A football.
