NFL x Dapper: Everything We Know so far About NFL NFTs
by Justin Perri
11/12/2021
On September 29, 2021, Dapper Labs — the creators of NBA Top Shot — publicly announced the launch of a new NFT product in partnership with the National Football League (NFL) and the NFL Players Association. The project is in its infancy as of now, currently using a simple-but-effective ‘NFL x Dapper Labs’ as a working title.
The NFL x Dapper Labs NFT product will be similar to NBA Top Shot, offering packs of the best NFL highlights as digital collectibles, living forever on the Flow blockchain.
“The all-new digital collectibles give NFL fans the unique opportunity to collect and own NFTs featuring some of the greatest and the most talked about in-game Moments from leading players week-to-week throughout the season,” the release says.
While there is a website and Discord available for the NFL x Dapper product, not much is known about the project beyond that. But here’s a running log of all of the info we do have.
NFL x Dapper: What we Know
As of early November, NFL x Dapper is without a confirmed date for its debut, although the official release from the NFL specifies that the launch will happen during the 2021 season. Depending on how that information is interpreted, the product might be introduced in a few weeks or it could be closer to the playoffs in January.
The likelihood appears to be that it will come towards the end of the calendar year. All expectations are that it will initially release as a closed, invite-only beta when it is initially release.
There has been indication from the NFL x Dapper social media posts that the project will open in a private beta before opening to the public. In a Q&A on their Discord for, Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou confirmed that Nine Lives Lounge members — which are Cool Cats complete set holders on NBA Top Shot — and other tester groups will be granted access first.
Gharegozlou was also quoted saying that “often projects have to start with 20, 100, 1,000 or even more testers” — essentially letting us know that it will be a slow release process for the NFL NFTs on Dapper.
As of now, you can join the NFL x Dapper Discord, and put your email on the waitlist to join early.
Next Steps for NFL x Dapper & Rewarding Fans
Once fully released, the objectives for the platform will likely shift towards fan activation and stable growth. What sets this project apart from any other football-related NFT will be the licensed media the Moments will contain.
Having an official partnership with the NFL will allow for Dapper x NFL to be the only football NFTs that have players in their active uniforms. This partnership will also let game tickets and player experiences be a part of what collectors can access. Dapper recently sent a group of lucky raffle-winning Top Shot collectors to see the NBA tip-off game this season; there’s plenty of room for similar experiences with the NFL.
It’s been clear since Dapper Labs began creating sports-based NFTs that they want their products to be a currency of fandom. The goal is to create an environment where users get perks for obtaining full team collections, owning Moments of their favorite players and more.
The NFL’s strong fan base is dedicated and loyal, and now they will be able to use their collections to show their allegiance while also being able to instantly transact on the Flow blockchain. The mix between officially licensed football collectibles with NFTs will on board many new faces to the blockchain while widely demonstrating the potential the new technology has.
What is Dapper Labs?
Dapper Labs is the company behind the first popularized NFT — CryptoKitties (in 2017) — as well as the NFT project that brought NFTs to the mainstream in 2021 — NBA Top Shot. After developing CryptoKitties in 2017 and crashing the Ethereum blockchain, Dapper Labs was established in 2018 as a way to scale NFTs to a much wider audience.
The solution was their own blockchain: the Flow blockchain. Flow, unlike Ethereum, is gasless — meaning transactions are free to the consumer. Plus, Flow built their chain to handle upwards of 10,000 transactions per second, so it could be used by buyers of consumer brands across the world.
Since then, Dapper Labs has secured partnerships with the NFL, UFC, La Liga, and Warner Music Group (on Genies) to build digital collectible platforms.
Recently, Dapper Labs has released their own wallet to use across select Flow Dapps. This way, it’s possible for funds you use on NBA Top Shot to also be used on the NFL x Dapper, and other NFTs on Flow, using your Dapper Wallet. This will make buying and selling NFTs across Flow much more synchronous.