NBA, NFL Trust Non-Fungible Tokens, But Denounce Contract Tokenization

While most of the firms participating in the NFT NYC event were early stage startups, busily marketing themselves, two firms, NBA and NFL, have millions of supporters across the globe.

Adrienne O’Keeffe, associate vice president of partnerships at the NBA, and Sophie Gage, advisory at the NFL Players Association, was part of a team that discussed about the benefits offered by blockchain technology to popular brands.

Cointelegraph spoke with the dignitaries to have an idea about their plans.

O’Keeffe believes that blockchain technology opens new window for fans to interact with each other. She said “This is a new way for fans to connect with our games”, says O’Keeffe. However, Gage, being a lawyer, points that “there is a lot of uncertainty: are these utilities, are these securities?”

Panini, a behemoth in the conventional players’ cards market, has successfully disbursed blockchain powered cards for NFL, NBA, MLB and also for several soccer teams. Gage acknowledged that “It’s a new area for growth. There is a lot of untapped potential.”

The NBA has trialed both public and private blockchain and understood its advantages and disadvantages. Public blockchain offer more liberty and better participation at the cost of control.

On the contrary, private blockchains offers greater control, but at the cost of liberty and participation.

O’Keeffe also gave her suggestion to blockchain focused businessmen who are eager to offer their products to NBA.

“We have met with dozens of companies in the space. They were coming to us with capabilities, not products.”

Several NBA and NFL players are involved in crypto. Likely the most daring project in the region was Nets player Spencer Dinwiddie attempting to tokenize his NBA deal. The NBA finally closed it, with Gage and O’Keeffe believing that there won’t be any contract tokenization in the near future.