Did you miss me?!

Shoutout to Eliot and Yaling for their guest pieces. I hope you enjoyed some much-needed non-TPan takes.

So…where was I?

I was in Las Vegas, the degenerate HQ for degenerates. But I wasn’t (primarily) there to gamble, we do enough of that in crypto and NFTs. Or at least that’s what some of us do, and what outsiders looking in think we do all day 😉

I was there for a change of scenery, to see some family, and lucky for me the trip overlapped with NBA Summer League. For those of you less familiar with basketball, Summer League is an off-season league-wide basketball tournament featuring recent draft picks and players from the developmental league (known as the G League). The incentive for some of these players is to showcase their skills before the start of the season, and the possibility of getting signed by a NBA team.

Basically the NBA without the stars

Summer League is a relatively new concept and really started gaining steam in 2018 with the participation of all 30 NBA teams and the implementation of tournament-style play.

My experience at Summer League was great. I spent the Sunday watching 4 games, the hyped Victor Wembanyama play, and star players like Steph Curry and Chris Paul show up on the sidelines as spectators.

However, what was notable wasn’t Summer League, but…

NBA Con: The ultimate NBA hoops & culture event

I first heard about NBA Con from the NBA Top Shot Discord server a month ago as a member of the Nine Lives Lounge (you have to collect a specific set of Top Shot moments in order to qualify). Just my luck, my trip overlapped with the event!

A free ticket to a NBA event? Don’t mind if I do 😏

So what did NBA Con look like and what could you do at the inaugural edition of the event?

Saturday’s schedule, which I attended

The Collection - NBA art and collectibles featuring:

NBA Championship Rings over the years by Jason of Beverly Hills
Panini, one of the top sports card companies
Game-worn jerseys

The Drip - NBA licensed merch and goods

These business work with NBA Lab, an incubator that helps to accelerate licensing opportunities for small businesses

The Stage - The main stage hosted live announcements and music events in the evenings

The Network - Branded activations and experiences featuring:

Arcade 1UP (NBA Jam anyone?!)
NBA Top Shot
AT&T
iHeart Radio podcasts
NBA ID (more on this later)
Sony Playstation

The Convos - A typical conference stage with fireside chats that featured players and NBA partners

The Park - Where the basketball action was, including:

A basketball court featuring contests and games involving fans
Kids courts
An autograph stage for signings and photo ops
NBA Con store sponsored by Amazon Music
A 20-foot hoop - It was fun watching people attempt this

As a casual NBA fan, it was a great experience. Fans from all over, many of whom were likely here for Summer league, running around and participating in NBA culture was a sight to see. All teams were represented and there was no shortage of activities to participate in, even if you weren’t the biggest fan.

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Observations at NBA Con

There was something for everyone and it was family-friendly

In hindsight, this should have been obvious but I was surprised at the number of children and families in attendance. Tickets were affordable at $60 for general admission and $30 for kids 12 and under for a one-day pass.

There were additional tiers for MVP ($250 per day) and Super VIP (sold out, not sure what the price point was) which provided fast pass entry to certain activations like the autograph stage and complimentary access to nightclubs on the Strip for the whole weekend.

Not bad for a full day of fun.

Authentic game-worn jerseys

There was a booth that sold jerseys worn by NBA players. The price of these jerseys were dependent on the player and game the jersey was worn at. For example, Nikola Jokic’s jersey in Game 2 of the Finals sold for $150,000. Or maybe it’s a marketing tactic 🤔.

Either way, this makes the price tag of a CryptoPunk (~$101k) or Bored Ape (~$66k) a little more reasonable.

What was more interesting were the displays showing how to tell if a jersey was game-worn.

“It’s authentic because there’s a wrinkle!”

I’m sure these jerseys were real considering the NBA partnership and come with additional documentation. However, I couldn’t help but think that blockchain technology could help…

In-Season Tournament Announcement

On Saturday, Adam Silver, Commissioner of the NBA, made a live announcement that was broadcasted on ESPN about the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament.

With some luck, I was fortunate to be near the front of the for this announcement that featured players, coaches, and personalities that participated in the announcement.

What was interesting was that as each team was announced, there was one of three reactions:

Dominant booing (most teams): Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, LA Clippers
Dominant cheering (you could hear the booing as well): LA Lakers, Golden State Warriors
Muted booing/apathy (teams the fans didn’t care much about, poor records, or were not represented well at the event): Portland Trailblazers, Cleveland Cavaliers

Online viewers noticed this as well.

Why was there so much booing? For every team that was announced, there were 29 other teams’ fans that were present. So if it wasn’t your team, the default response was to boo, especially if that team is a rival.

This is clearly different than a typical sporting match that involves 2 teams: Home and Away.

AR Activations

Most booths and stations included QR codes powered by Flowcode with AR-augmented experiences by Fabric. Some of these codes led to scratchers for rewards, which provides a glimpse of what the NBA is testing out and may incorporate more of 👀

This reminds me of my experience at Consensus earlier this year and their incorporation of QR codes to measure and facilitate engagement.

Takeaways from NBA Con

TPan, I’m glad you’re back and NBA Con sounds cool. What the hell does this have to do with web3 though?!

Great question. So far it feels like I’m telling my friends about my weekend in a geeky, tech bro way. Although NBA Con itself didn’t have anything related to web3, it’s helpful to understand the direction that loyalty and engagement are headed, and consider how web3 might fit in. Some themes:

Active vs. Passive Consumption

I don’t need to go deeper on this for NBA Con, because all the examples I provided above highlight this theme.

However, what we’re seeing emerge is a differentiation between active vs. passive consumption.

You can watch a NBA game. You can even cheer during that game, which is active but in the grand scheme of things is still passive.

Or you can go to NBA Con and get autographs from players, be a part of a live announcement, and run around scanning QR codes for reward points.

Sports is a great example of illustrating the evolution of consumption, and other brands with strong fan bases (easy examples are Starbucks and Nike) are already rolling their version of this out.

Another example of this Netflix and their experiences: Stranger Things, Bridgerton, and Money Heist. In web3, Doodles has partnered with CAMP for a similar type of experience launching soon.

Assuming the “first ever” NBA Con (a phrase that was intentionally mentioned multiple times) was a success, we can assume there will be more NBA Cons, more than once a year, and in other locations. There may be a tour format like ESPN’s College Gameday, with HQ in Las Vegas to complement Summer League.

Similar to how Netflix’s Drive to Survive has spawned a new genre of sports documentaries that led to Full Swing, Welcome to Wrexham, and Break Point, I believe every other sports league is going to create their own version of NBA Con. It’s the logical next step in engagement once you have the table stakes of e-mail, phone number, address, social media, etc.

Brand IDs are going to be a thing

Another observation was how NBA ID was marketed at NBA Con as well as Summer League. The NBA ID isn’t new, but rather a rebrand of the NBA Account. This was announced last September alongside the revamped NBA App.

It becomes more clear when you look at the word choice in the announcement for NBA ID.

With the NBA ID, you’re not just a consumer anymore. You’re more than a fan. You’re a member that gets special experiences and rewards. The NBA ID landing page promotes a similar message as well.

We see this happening with Nike’s web3-powered .SWOOSH platform as well. “You’re co-creating.”

Web3 is optional and can be an accelerant

From what I can tell, there are no web3 or blockchain efforts here. And that’s fine, the NBA doesn’t need it. Let’s be honest, no one needs it.

That said, web3 could be an accelerant and provide more interoperability in a future state, especially with these reward points that I randomly stumbled upon (I can’t find any more info on it online 🤔)

IF the NBA were to integrate web3, what might that look like?

Tokenization of rewards points
Redemption of NBA tokenized rewards points for specific benefits within and adjacent to the NBA:
- NBA Labs small business partners
- NBA Top Shot (points ➡️ Dapper Credit)
- Fanatics (points ➡️ Fancash)
- Panini (points ➡️ Panini Rewards)
- Easier on-ramping of new partners through the token versus full-integration into the NBA platform
- Spending points for extra votes for the NBA All-Star Game
- Spending points for game tickets, complimentary Jumbotron shoutouts, and seat upgrades (vs. purely random in-game, reward those that show engagement)
Creating digital collectibles, badges (which they already have), and achievements. Some are tied to the member, some are tradeable.

Based on what I’ve listed above, I’m not convinced the NBA needs web3 capabilities, at least for now. And I imagine that’s the thought process that the corporate team went through as well.

Despite this, other companies that may not have an integrated ecosystem like the NBA may benefit from web3 as a way to leapfrog into the next generation of engagement and loyalty models. Take 7-Eleven’s Slurpee NFT activation as an example.

There you have it. That’s what I was up to in Vegas. Maybe after reading this, you want me to take a break again. 😉

I’m on a podcast with Mike Stelzner

I’m on another podcast, this time with a rare second appearance on Mike Stelzner’s Web3 Business podcast! I talk about the DeGods and y00ts migration, Jack Butcher’s Opepen opt-in mechanics, and Rug Radio’s Stubs program.

Audio and written article

Youtube

^I bob my head a lot when I talk. I guess that means I’m passionate? 🤷‍♂️

See you next week!

#216: NBA Con - The Future of Fan-Based Experiences