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- NFL and Dapper Labs launched digital video collectible NFT platform last August
- NBA Top Shot sales has also seen sharp decline in sales
The National Football League (NFL) has seen its official non-fungible token (NFT) video digital collectible platform fall ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ short of revenue expectations, according to The Block.
The league, along with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) and Dapper Labs, publicly launched NFL All Day last August, giving fans the ability to buy and sell NFTs based on officially licensed footage involving NFL players, teams and moments. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes also promoted the platform as an ambassador for the venture.
The Block reports that during the platform’s soft launch in 2021, Dapper Labs realised that it had overestimated revenue and would fail to achieve the minimum guarantee requirements it had agreed to pay OneTeam Partners, the marketing joint venture co-founded by the NFLPA.
Digital collectibles marketplace Dapper Labs, which is also behind NBA Top Shot, purportedly tried to renegotiate with OneTeam Partners, only to be threatened with a lawsuit.
A contentious period of negotiations were then said to have taken place, eventually leading to newly-agreed terms between both sides.
Following NFL All Day’s launch, the collection racked up US$18.65 million in sales in September 2022, according to CryptoSlam. However, as the season progressed and amid a decline in the NFT market, sales dropped off significantly, with NFL All Day generating US$3.54 million last January.
The Block also reports that Dapper Labs found almost all of those who had bought NFL All Day NFTs had already purchased NFTs from NBA Top Shot, meaning it had not expanded its customer base despite the new football-centred offering.
Worsening economic conditions have already impacted Dapper Labs directly, resulting in it laying off 22 per cent of its workforce in November. Roham Gharegozlou, the company’s founder and chief executive, said at the time that the reduction was ‘necessary for the long-term health of our business and communities’.
In February, it was also revealed that Dapper Labs is facing a lawsuit that alleges its video-based digital collectibles, including NBA Top Shot, are unregistered securities rather than fan products.
