It’s pretty cool to see the entire sports industry begin to embrace futuristic technology such as Web 3.0 and NFT’s.
As an athlete, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
We are at the beginning of the next wave of technology. Facebook didn’t just change its name to Meta for no reason.
Now is the time to learn about the future and figure out ways to capitalize (especially as an athlete).
You’ll regret it if you don’t.
3 Reasons Why Athletes Should Sell an NFT
This is directed towards athletes, but is applicable to everyone.
1. Fan Engagement
As an athlete you have a built in fanbase. It starts in high school, grows immensely in college, and continues in to the pros.
You’d be surprised how many young kids look up to you and the amount of random people that follow your journey. Some of your biggest fans are behind-the-scenes.
Thanks to NFT’s (and NIL) you can now take advantage of this.
By selling an NFT you’ll be able to provide your fans with a more personalized experience and make them feel special.
Here are some things I advise athletes to do:
Separate your drop into an exclusive and generic section.
The generic NFT’s will act more like an art piece that can be resold and the exclusive NFT will cost more for the buyer, but give them access to you personally – signed gear, meet-and-greet, front row seats, etc
Attach a charity to the NFT drop, this will get more people involved. 10-20% of profits is reasonable.
Hire a really good artist that will make a collectible worth showing off. This will attract buyers who might not even know who you are.
Before we reach the other reasons NFT’s are important for athletes, let me show you where the best place to sell them is in terms of ease of use and real-world utility.
Related: Step-by-Step Guide For Athletes to Sell Your First NFT
2. Passive Income
Every time your NFT is resold you are entitled to a percentage of the profits.
This equates to passive income.
The idea of purchasing digital items is still so new that the power of a secondary market is not yet realized. In 5 years, people will understand this much better – but it will be too late by then to capitalize on it.
Let’s look at an example:
A Peyton Manning Super Bowl 50 signed card is being sold for $300 in the physical world today.
When it sells on this secondary market, Peyton Manning gets $0.
But if after Super Bowl 50 Peyton Manning got this same card + signature digitized and sold it as an NFT – he would profit off the initial sale and every time the card resold.
NFT’s reward the initial creator long after the first sale.
An NFT created today, might still be making you money 10 years from now.
3. Appreciation in Value
NFT’s help engage your fans and also provide passive income through the secondary market.
But what fuels that is the appreciation in value.
If you buy a house and hold it for 10 years – usually you’ll be able to sell it for more than you bought it.
Just as homes can appreciate in value, so can NFTs.
Let’s use McKenzie Milton as our example.
The Florida State QB created and sold his own NFT through Dreamfield. The first collectible was purchased for 0.35 ETH or roughly $1,500 USD.
Milton would have received the majority of this sale – minus the small percentage fees taken out from OpenSea, Dreamfield, and any Ethereum gas fees.
Now let’s hypothesize and say Milton goes on to become an all-star QB in the NFL.
This NFT will most likely have a large increase in value. Why? Because it’s authentic and rare.
If it re-sells for $50,000. In the physical world, Milton wouldn’t make any profit.
But in this new digital world, the card is directly tied to Milton and he receives say a 3% cut from the resell or roughly $1,500.
The original purchaser is happy as they made a nice return on investment and Milton is happy because he got rewarded for appreciating the value of the card.
The POWER of NFT’s – now you should be able to see why all athletes should sell their own NFT.
Ignore the noise – the long-term value of NFT’s is real, especially in the sports world.
