NBA Top Shot has taken the digital collectible world by storm, and the star of another league wants in on the action.
Four-time All-Pro tight end and four-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski is hopping on the train of prominent figures and businesses to get into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the most recognizable of which in the sports world to this point is NBA Top Shot. His collection will be called the Rob Gronkowski Championship Series.
“I see what going on, and it’s just exploding,” Gronkowski told CNBC (via Jabari Young). “I wanted my fans that are living in the digital world to be able to get a piece of this action.”
And we can't blame him for wanting to get in as the first professional athlete to launch a collection of NFTs. NBA Top Shot's success was so immediate and so far-reaching — creator Dapper Labs says that they've generated over $230 million in gross sales — that there is currently quite the waitlist to get in on the fun.
However, while Dapper Labs has a partnership with the NBA that allows official highlights and logos to be collected, the situation with Gronk is a little bit different. He will go through OpenSea, which doesn't have licensing permission from the league. Instead, his Super Bowl highlights will be represented through illustrations by Black Madre, a visual arts studio.
There will be four collectible highlights, all of which have 87 editions available, that display his highlights in Super Bowl XLIX, LI, LIII and LV. In addition, there will be one special "refractor card" which grants the owner a meet-and-greet with Gronk during a game this season. All in all, there will be 349 NFTs available.
Joe Silberzweig, who co-founded Medium Rare, a management and events company that collaborates with Gronk, says that he will also hand sign the unique tokens.
“I think when Rob saw the success of NBA Top Shot do millions of dollars, he had the entrepreneurial itch to take it into his own hands and create something for himself and his fans,” Silberzweig said.
And you can be one of those fans, though we have to assume you'll have to dive pretty deep into those savings accounts in order to do so. You can check out the website prior to the auction, to be held Thursday, here.
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