Another exciting NFT project is happening in women’s sports — this time in the world of golf. The United States Golf Association (USGA) has partnered with Pebble Beach Company for a dynamic set of ‘ArtBall‘ non-fungible tokens for the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open.
The ‘U.S. Women’s Open ArtBall‘ NFT collection consists of 3,010 digital assets linked to real-time stroke data. Each NFT is tied to a specific plot on the renowned 17th hole of the Pebble Beach course, and throughout the tournament, live data is transformed into unique art. The NFT‘s metadata will update according to ‘Landing Points,‘ ‘Longest Hole Out,‘ and ‘Closest to the Hole‘ during all four rounds of the championship.
ArtBall, a product of NFT Tech studio, merges digital technology with real-life sports to make the fan experience more immersive and engaging. Its first successful project in 2022 was with the Australia Open.
The Ethereum-based NFTs will be available to mint for free on Rarible marketplace starting July 6th. Current ArtBall members and owners of ‘AO Art Balls‘ will have access to 500 whitelist spots, and there will be additional benefits that the team is finalizing now and will update via its Twitter and Discord channels.
This is the first time the USGA has appeared at the famous Pebble Beach Golf Links course on California’s Monterey Peninsula since 1948, and the tournament is highly anticipated among golf fans. Pebble Beach Golf Links was founded in 1919 and is one of the most iconic golf courses in the world.
The USGA wrote on its site that golf has a history of using nascent technologies to enrich the player and fan experience, and that Web3 would “give fans a new and exciting way to engage with the U.S. Women’s Open Championship like never before.” This is first official NFT collection from the USGA and Pebble Beach.
What Were the Australian Open Art Ball NFTs?
In 2021, the Australian Open (AO) tennis tournament was closed to fans because of the Covid pandemic. As a non-profit organization that suddenly had no income from ticket sales, the AO needed to find a way to reconnect with fans.
Introducing the ‘AO ArtBall‘ from NFT Tech studio. The AO ArtBall was the first dynamic NFT art collection that leveraged real-time Hawkeye line calling data used to officiate matches. Here’s how it worked.
6,776 “Art Balls” were linked to a specific section, or plot, of the Australian Open tennis court. When winning shots fell on a plot that corresponded to a digital asset, the NFT holder received benefits like exclusive video footage, Australian Open merchandise, and digital wearables from Decentraland.
Furthermore, the owner of the ArtBall linked to the tournament’s winning point received the IRL game ball in a crafted case. The NFTs could also be traded on secondary marketplaces, and fans had the chance to watch the tournament via a 3D replica in the metaverse.
This innovative move from the Australian Open and NFT Tech garnered media attention around the world. But perhaps more importantly, it helped the AO recover some of the excitement it had lost from the previous year’s lack of live fans.
Many people believe that the meshing of NFT collectible metadata with real-life data — the blending of the digital and physical — could be the future of sports. At Rarity Sniper, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the U.S. Women’s Open ArtBall NFT collection to see if it’s as popular as the Australian Open ArtBall in 2022. If it is, we expect it won’t be the last dynamic NFT sports collections we see this year.
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