ROB BADMAN
STOCKHEAD
The Australian Football League’s Ripper Skipper 2022 NFTs – digital memorabilia for a pretty niche subset of NFT traders and collectors – have bounced into the market.
And they’re sold out already.
The AFL and Be Media, an Aussie subsidiary of NFT gaming giant Animoca Brands, today launched the AFL Mint’s first drop of limited-edition tokens of the non-fungible variety to the public.
This follows the announcement earlier this year of the AFL’s five-year partnership with both Animoca and the Perth-based digital agency, which gave us the sense back in April that something like this was definitely on the digitised cards.
What are Ripper Skipper NFTs?
Well, we know from press release information shared with Stockhead and a select amount of other media agencies (okay probably all of them) that they’re based on the captains from the 18 teams in the Australian Football League.
All up, there are 78 “major moments” to collect, showcasing different highlights featuring AFL team skippers during the 2021 season.
Here’s a bit of a taster, although these are just the portraits, the NFTs themselves include video and audio of the captain in action. (Got that, right-click-savers?)
The NFTs were launched to members of the public who’d signed up to the allowlist, and were selling for $49 in lucky dip packs of three cards with differing levels of rarity.
Each pack gives a 90% chance of receiving “Common”-tiered cards, 8% for a “Deluxe” and 2% for an “Ovation” card. Plus there’s also a 10% your pack will receive a special, extra-utility-carrying Genesis Ball NFT as one of the three cards.
And just on the utility concept, AFL Mint has plans to evolve by adding to certain NFTs what it hopes will be engaging experiences for AFL fans.
For example game-day events, tickets, unique content and metaverse hangouts with players.
Kylie Rogers, Executive General Manager Customer and Commercial at AFL, said: “Through our AFL Mint brand, we will launch exciting new moments across our men’s and women’s competitions, plus celebrate past greats and other product releases that will bring a unique fan experience we haven’t seen before.”
Likewise, Jordan Fogarty, the CEO of Be Media and Animoca’s Executive Chairman Yat Siu, provided some comments on the NFT drop, with the common word from each being “excited”.
Other collectable releases are in the works for the AFL Mint program, including AFLW Ripper Skipper, and the AFL Mint Marketplace – where you’ll be able to buy and sell these things – will reportedly be coming in 2023.