Southwestern University ventures into the world of NFTs
GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — Southwestern is the first DIII institution to announce a partnership with an NFT platform.
The school's Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has an exclusive three-year partnership with Non-Fungible Token platform and marketplace Legacy League, which will allow fans to purchase officially licensed digital collectibles.
Jerseys and other sports memorabilia will still be available, but this new technology will offer another avenue to connect with the university.
"This just happens to be a digital item as opposed to a baseball or something like that," said Doug Ross, Associate Director of Intercollegiate Athletics.
"There is a marketplace, so not only can they collect it, but they can keep it, they can have it to view or share it with their friends or they can buy or sell the asset as well," said Ross.
Imagine images of players, or stadiums or a championship ring in a digital format.
"There is an opportunity here with the change in the laws related to name image and likeness as it relates to college athletes," said Kurt Hallead, Co-founder of Legacy League. "We thought it would be a really neat way to help college athletes monetize their name image and likeness by using this new technology."
A 3D replica of the 2016 SCAC Football Championship ring will be the first NFT available. Additional NFTs are scheduled to launch later.
The marketplace will be live before the end of March.