Unlike other pro sports leagues, the National Football League has taken its time with venturing into cryptocurrency.
But a recent job posting shows that may soon change. The NFL is hiring a director of emerging products, who will place a focus on exploring blockchain applications for league products — as well as NFTs. The league did not return a request for comment.
From the description on LinkedIn:
“Emerging areas such as digital products related to blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and products in the gaming space represent growth opportunities for the consumer products business. In these emerging areas, the director will be responsible for evaluating new business opportunities, managing NFL partnerships, and working with NFL clubs.”
It would be a significant step for the league, which has to this point been mainly hands off when it comes to crypto.
That’s certainly not true of its players. Last week, star New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley announced he would be taking his endorsement deals in Bitcoin. Top draft pick Trevor Lawrence launched a set of NFTs and took his rookie signing bonus in Bitcoin and Ethereum. And the NFL Player’s Association is listed as part of the Flow ecosystem by Dapper Labs, which powers NBA Top Shot, which has produced more than $700 million in sales this year.
Many other professional leagues have at least dabbled in crypto. The NBA leads the way with Top Shot, which recently started integrating fan and ticket experiences to the platform.
European football clubs have licensing agreements with Sorare, an NFT collectible game. Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League have each launched NFT offerings and started accepting cryptocurrency for tickets.
Disclosure: Stephen Stirling is a senior reporter for the Street Crypto. He is an NFT artist that uses the platform OpenSea, and holds NFTS from NBA TopShot, Zed.Run and Cool Cats currently valued at more than $500 USD.
Unlike other pro sports leagues, the National Football League has taken its time with venturing into cryptocurrency.
But a recent job posting shows that may soon change. The NFL is hiring a director of emerging products, who will place a focus on exploring blockchain applications for league products — as well as NFTs. The league did not return a request for comment.
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