Global sports streaming service DAZN teamed up with Canelo Alvarez, Billy Joe Saunders and Matchroom Boxing to launch the first NFT collection around a world championship boxing fight, complete with memorabilia and gamification. This unique NFT experience combines the technology and gamification to create a series of digital collectibles that—coupled with the result of the fight—lead an owner to winning a slew of rewards that include signed gloves from Canelo, personalized videos for their camps, annual subscriptions to the networks service and tickets to a future fight.
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DAZN’s Face the Fearless: Gamification and Collectibles Combine
DAZN
The First NFT Drop Tied to a World Championship Fight
Through their ‘prediction’ NFTs, collectors can purchase a collectible that represents a single round of the main event. If the fight ends in that round, there are rewards to be collected. Deploying a unique mechanic like this in a space that is constantly evolving seems to be an attempt to garner interest in DAZN’s project by staying one step ahead of the game. As far as I can tell, this is the first time that anyone has combined NFTs directly into a live event’s results.
DAZN
Part of what I think will make this drop successful is the all-in from the Canelo camp. Alvarez is signing his award gloves, he’ll be recording the personalized video himself and the winner of one reward can cash in for a pair of tickets to one of his future fights. Providing more access to athletes through NFTs is just a glimpse into the future use case of the technology. Much like VeeFriends, the value in these NFTs is not only tied to the amazing art, but the utility it provides.
Make sure to check out the NFT experience daznboxing.io and follow along Saturday night for the results. Personally, I think I’ll be watching the secondary market on OpenSea throughout the entire fight to see how collectors react as the fight goes on... unless we see a KO in round one. Wouldn’t that be something?
DAZN
The pre-fight auction is currently live and available for bidding until Canelo & Billy Joe make their way to the ring on Saturday night, around 10pm ET. The second pre-fight collection, consisting of two fixed-price, gamified series, went on sale today, Friday, May 7, at 3pm ET as the fighters weigh-in and face off one final time before the fight. The post-fight drop will include highlights & moments from the fight itself, with auctions going live on Monday, May 10.
DAZN
For full details, check out the Face the Fearless collection page on OpenSea and see DAZNBoxing.io for more information and reward redemption info.
Disclosure: I was consulted on the strategy of this drop and am invested in its success. With that said, I believe the project and the team at DAZN speak for themselves on this one, and I know that if this project is successful, their brand can bring a lot to the table.
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