When New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers fell victim to a season-ending ankle injury Monday after four appearances with the long-beleaguered NFL franchise, backup Zach Wilson stepped up to lead the team and turn it around. against the Buffalo Bills. And soon, Wilson’s fantasy football NFTs skyrocketed in value.
Step into the national spotlight for a high-stakes matchup against a division rival, Wilson’s ally NFTs on DraftKings’ Reignmakers – the fantasy sports company’s blockchain-based game – rose rapidly as Rodgers’ injury became apparent.
The “elite‘ version of Wilson’s 2023 NFL Reignmakers digital player card – a Polygon-based NFT limited to a total of 30 editions in circulation – which sold for between $69 and $99 on secondary markets at kickoff. But less than ten minutes later, the value of Wilson’s NFTs on the secondary markets had risen to $400 following Rodgers’ injury.
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An ESPN broadcast of the game later showed Rodgers in a medical boot, hobbling off a cart to have his ankle x-rayed. By the time Wilson’s team pulled off an overtime victory against the Bills, the backup QB’s aforementioned “elite” NFTs were up for sale on NFL Reignmakers at a value of $555, with the most recent sale on raised $285 on Monday.
The fluctuation in NFT prices shows how quickly fortunes can change in the NFL, where one player’s injury can be a career-defining opportunity for another. In the sporting field, the flux presents NFTs as assets that can track the trajectory of an athlete or team.
Similar to traditional fantasy football or the Ultimate Team game mode that has become a lucrative staple of EA Sports’ Madden game franchise, DraftKings’ NFL Reignmakers tasks participants with building a roster of NFL players to compete against each other.
Points are awarded to players based on their performance, such as a touchdown grab or a certain number of rushing yards. As a reward, contest winners will be paid out in cash, digital “packs” of players or specific NFTs, according to DraftKings’ website. DraftKings says it will hand out $30 million in prizes this season.
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While the umbrella for DraftKings’ NFT fantasy game includes football, the UFC and the PGA Tour, Reignmakers has totaled more than $206 million in revenue over the course of its existence, according to data from CryptoSlam.
At the time of writing, the collection has raked in nearly $527,000 in sales over the past day. That puts Reignmakers above several popular ones profile photo NFT collectionssuch as the Bored Ape Yacht Club and DeGods.