The partnership between NFL Patriots and Blockchain Web3
Under the terms of the new 4-year contract, Chain will partner with Kraft Sports + Entertainment to create an innovative Web3 experience for visitors to Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots and New England Revolution.
“We are proud to partner with Kraft Sports + Entertainment to envision the future of Web3 for Gillette Stadium, the New England Patriots, and the New England Revolution. Our team is excited to help Kraft Sports + Entertainment build cutting-edge experiences for stadium visitors utilizing Chain’s proprietary blockchain technology,” said Chain CEO Deepak Thapliyal.
Kraft Sports + Entertainment is part of The Kraft Group group based in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The company manages sales, marketing, content development and event planning for Gillette Stadium and two New England sports teams. Kraft bought the New England Patriots in 1994 and was one of the founders of the New England Revolution football team.
In November 2021, Kraft signed an agreement with Socios.com to offer New England Patriots fans a reward for answering game-related questions during each week of the football season.
Chain CEO buys patriots.eth ENS domain, an NFL first
Following the announcement, Thapliyal purchased ENS’s Patriots.eth domain for 75 ETH ($99,321.75). ENS domains can be traded as NFTs on secondary marketplaces such as OpenSea.Much of the comments on Twitter around the new deal came from owners of ENS domains.
However, fan tokens that other sports teams have issued through Socios.com to grant owners access to exclusive products and experiences are not mentioned.
This omission may be due to the NFL’s 2022 ruling that makes it possible for teams to secure blockchain sponsorship for a period of 3 years, as long as teams do not advertise specific cryptocurrencies and fan tokens.
Following the NFL ruling, the Dallas Cowboys became the first NFL team to sign a sponsorship deal with a crypto company on March 4. The deal with the cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com includes branding and advertising.
Thapliyal owns BAYC and CryptoPunk NFTs
Thapliyal, an NFT collector, also owns the domains Deepak.eth and nerev.eth, along with NFTs from blue-chip collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club.
In February 2022, Thapliyal purchased CryptoPunk #5822, another blue-chip NFT, for a record value of $23.7 million in ETH using the DeFi Protocol Compound .
