Australian Football League Sells Out Limited Edition NFT Drop in Under 12 Hours

Key Insights:

• The 3,600 packs reserved for the drop came with a retail price of 34.39 USDC each. 
• The Ripper Skipper drop is estimated to have generated over $130,000 in USDC.
• The AFL announced a five-year partnership deal with Animoca Brands earlier this year. 

The Australian Football League (AFL), which partnered with Animoca Brands earlier this year to launch a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, has seen a huge uptake of its limited edition NFT drop.

The Ripper Skipper drop, which required people to join an ‘allowlist’ in order to purchase one of 3,800 packs, sold out in less than 12 hours.

Ripper Skipper

The 3,600 packs reserved for the drop came with a retail price of 34.39 USDC each, with the project estimated to have generated over $130,000 in USDC.

The project boasts 78 significant moments and highlights from the 2021 season and each pack varies in rarity. The three rarity tiers are based upon unique moments from the season and are categorised as common, deluxe and ovation.

Notably, those who participated in the first drop have a 10% chance of receiving a limited edition AFL Mint Genesis Ball NFT. The wider public will also have access to another drop scheduled to launch later this month.

NFTs are unique tokenised representations of digital files whose ownership can be demonstrated and verified using distributed ledger technology (DLT). Exchanged on public blockchains, NFTs are gaining traction due to businesses tokenising music albums, artwork, internet memes, gaming and esports, which has unlocked new opportunities for digital commerce and engagement.

Overall, NFTs both enable the efficient commercialisation of unique assets and represent the creation of entirely new digital product lines and revenue streams.

Metaverse Plans

Earlier this year, the Australian Football League announced a five-year partnership deal with Animoca Brands to release limited edition NFTs through an AFL Mint marketplace. By partnering with Animoca Brands, AFL plans to tap into its extensive Web3 ecosystem in order to provide fans with future Metaverse experiences in areas such as virtual reality and gaming.

AFL Mint products deliver rewards and real-world experiences via exclusive events, rewarding fans for game days, including ticket upgrades, hospitality, experiential zones and exclusive merchandise. The company has confirmed that fans could someday meet players in the Metaverse as part of its plans to create unique sporting experiences.

The AFL Mint marketplace is set to launch in 2023 and will facilitate the selling and trading of NFT moments between fans and collectors.

The Australian Football League joins several high-profile sporting organisations that have forayed into the world of Web3. For example, the National Basketball Association (NBA) partnered with Dapper Labs in 2020 to launch an NFT marketplace where sports fans can buy, sell and trade basketball video clips.

In addition, the UFC, a world-renowned mixed martial arts organisation, partnered with Dapper Labs at the start of this year to launch an NFT marketplace known as UFC Strike. The NFTs feature iconic moments from fights and are designed to capture and and celebrate a specific instance of UFC history.