Talks of NFTs or non-fungible tokens, have been consuming the world lately but a sector that has been inundated especially would be the sports world. Athletes have been increasingly entering this space and vocalizing what they own on social media. Mark Cuban has been an ardent advocate for NFTs as well as cryptocurrency. Recently, he has even mentioned using NFTs as tickets. The question many have is in what ways are NFTs valuable and how can they be “more” valuable than a physical item and the answer is in the secure, transparent, tracking system of them – blockchain.
When it comes to tickets, NFTs could be the future. NFTs are backed by a blockchain which is a digital ledger of all transactions that anyone can access and view. The ledger is supported by numerous computers that all have identical records which is what makes this system secure. The original owner of an NFT can profit off of an item they sell every time it is resold because of certain settings within this tracking system. This means that if the Dallas Mavericks choose, they can receive a profit off of tickets every time they change hands. For fans, this type of system removes middlemen such as Stubhub or Ticketmaster, which also means the removal of high fees that may exceed the price of the actual ticket. The other notable value to fans lies in the long term value of the tickets. The same way tickets of notable games increase in value years after the game, the same can happen for NFTs acting as tickets. If your ticket is an NFT, it can’t be lost (unless you lose your private key of course) and it is verifiably legitimate through blockchain.
The other largely popular use for NFTs in the sports world is by athletes creating and selling them. It is very similar to owning a real collectible item but it is digital. Once again it has the same benefits that NFTs as tickets do, you can not lose them as long as you remember your private key, and they can be verified as legitimate without any confirmation because of the records held in the blockchain. For the players the benefit is they have an increased amount of control over the items they create and put out into the market because they have the ability to do it more directly. This opportunity also allows them to diversify their portfolio.
Mark Cuban has gotten the Mavericks on the forefront of NFTs and if successfully executed NFTs will be the future of tickets. Athletes are already recognizing the value in them and entering the market and most likely will continue to do so. The security blockchain provides will be appearing more and more in various spaces as its benefits are very applicable.