If you’ve zoned out a time or two while “visionaries” and crypto bros drill into mining, minting, and public ledgers, we understand. To most of us, the bits and bytes of rewiring the internet are like highway construction. We don’t care how it’s done. We want to know where it will take us. 

The NFT (non-fungible token) space over the last twelve months has been anything but boring. In fact, it has seen more than its fair share of twists and turns and ups and downs — and many got more than a bit lost in all the action.

Sports cards have been a staple of sports fandom since at least 1909, the year American Tobacco stashed its first cards as freebies in cigarette and tobacco packs. The industry has grown significantly since those early days, and technology has matured alongside it. Now, the blockchain provides the perfect meeting point for the two.

Today, we are revealing a set of NFT utility data and insights after comparing trading volumes from OpenSea’s top 100 collections of all-time with those over an analysis period of 30 days, from October 15, 2022 to November 15, 2022. Analyzing each collection to determine how utility types are evolving, these data uncovered a growing interest in NFT utility types beyond PFPs (profile pictures), particularly content, events, and rewards distribution.

We had the pleasure of working with AirCatch.io last year and, now, the opportunity to pick the brain of one of their Co-Founders, Aaron Stein. AirCatch is self-described as making sending and receiving NFTs (non-fungible tokens) as easy and useful as email, and we couldn't agree more.

Yesterday, Instagram hosted a Twitter Space revolving around all things NFT, digital collectibles, creators’ experiences and the future of the metaverse with four NFT creators who participated in Instagram's minting platform. What we thought was the most compelling part of the conversation was surrounding the subject of NFT adoption and utility, two things that are incredibly important to us at Dibbs.

Sports collectibles are as old as the games themselves, with memorabilia like trading cards, apparel, and autographed equipment preserving the history of these beloved pastimes while deepening the personal connections fans develop with their teams and players of choice. Now, NFT (non-fungible token) sports collectibles offer brands and fans alike the chance to push their passions into the future, deepening their bond and driving revenue along the way by turning those items of historical record into eternally preserved digital collectibles.

Whether it’s a video of Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run or a Kobe Bryant-inspired digital art collection, NFTs in sports are here to stay. Fans, players, and professional leagues have embraced NFTs as a new way to engage with each other and create content around their favorite sports.

In a largely pseudonymous industry where NFT holders can be hard to reach, we felt uniquely positioned to tap the highly engaged users of our marketplace to understand broader sentiments around the evolving NFT industry and what the future of ownership looks like alongside the growth of Web3 and the metaverse. 

With almost 60% of avid sports fans participating in NFT (non-fungible token) trades, the time is now to bring your own sports brand to Web3. Thankfully, you don’t have to go it alone; tons of new sports NFT companies are coming along for the ride, each with a unique spin on how to capture this growing market. Before we get into breaking down five of the most promising examples, let’s define what we mean when we talk about “sports NFT companies.”