Driven by the extraordinary early success of the NBA’s Top Shot digital collectibles, NFTs were the talk of the sports industry when the Premier League dipped its toe into the market last year.
It launched a tender process, inviting bidders to submit proposals for a range of officially licensed Premier League NFTs, which was due to be concluded by the end of 2021. That deadline came and went, however, and two months later no decision has yet been made.
The delay reflects both the complexity of creating a new product but also the reputational and regulatory minefield that entrants to the NFT market must now navigate.
However, after it became clear last week that this was likely to change, the latest report claims the English top flight has gone as far as deciding to split its NFTs into two categories: video collectables and still images.
ConsenSys were approved as the still image licensee at a recent shareholder meeting, with confirmation likely to follow in the summer, once final details have been agreed. Dapper Labs, meanwhile, have been put forward as the video collectable partner, but this has yet to be approved.