The PGA Tour taps Tom Brady’s Autograph brand for new golf NFTs
The new platform is scheduled to tee off in early 2023.
The PGA Tour’s upcoming NFTs will feature famous golfers and iconic moments from the Tour / Adobe Stock
The PGA Tour is hoping to score in the web3 space by launching a new NFT campaign developed in partnership with Autograph – an NFT brand co-founded by Tom Brady. The new “digital collectibles platform,” according to the company, is aimed at “revolutionizing golf fandom by allowing fans to celebrate their love of the game by owning a token of its storied history.”
“We have been investigating the NFT and web3 space for a couple of years and learned a ton from other similar projects,“ said Tom Jeffs, vice-president of media business development at the PGA Tour.
“We believe we are at an inflection point where our fans want to have a closer connection to our players, and our players want new ways to connect with their fans. Autograph shared our point of view about fans getting closer to the sports and athletes they love, so we’re thrilled to start this multi-year partnership together.
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“With the platform we’re building with Autograph, we hope to bring fans closer to the players they love by enabling a new way to share and display fandom.“
The new NFTs will feature some of the world’s most celebrated professional golfers, as well as iconic moments from the PGA Tour, which was first established in 1968. NFT owners can also earn rewards “including access to exclusive digital, in-person and onsite experiences, along with other program benefits.”
Autograph is an NFT platform whose mission is “to better connect fans to the things they love,” per the press release. Its board of directors includes FTX founder and chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried and The Weeknd, and it has overseen NFT drops in partnership with several prominent sports legends including Wayne Gretzky, Simone Biles, Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Naomi Osaka, Usain Bolt and Tony Hawk – all of whom also serve on the company’s board of advisors.
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The news from the PGA Tour and Autograph arrives at a time in which several major sports organizations have been inking deals with web3 companies, eager to capitalize on all of the novel marketing and fan opportunities that the emerging industry is able to offer. Earlier this month, for example, web3 brand Sorare entered into a partnership with the NBA to launch a blockchain-based fantasy basketball game. In August, it was announced that the web3-based fan rewards platform Socios.com had begun working with FC Barcelona in an effort to bring the football club into the web3 space.
“Web3 and NFTs are challenging traditional notions of fandom,” said Dillon Rosenblatt, chief executive of Autograph. “Our partnership with PGA is an excellent example of how we’re giving golf lovers a new way to get closer to the game through collecting, gamification and community. For the golf athlete, we’re creating a unique opportunity for them not only to own and monetize these experiences, but also to connect with their most devoted fans in ways they haven’t been able to previously.”
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The new NFT platform that’s being developed by the PGA Tour and Autograph is slated to launch in early 2023.
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