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WNBA 'Moments' Are Coming to Dapper Labs' NBA Top Shot
The league is making its first foray into NFTs as it looks to capitalize on a surge of new fans.
By Danny Nelson
Updated May 9, 2023, 3:23 a.m. Published Aug 25, 2021, 1:01 p.m.
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Dapper Labs' NBA Top Shot is set to sell “moments” commemorating the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) with an inaugural pack of licensed digital highlights scheduled for release on Friday.
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Dapper Labs said the non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are digital collectibles authenticated with blockchain technology, will initially feature highlight-reel snippets from top players across league history. Dapper Labs’ head of partnerships, Caty Tedman, recounted a collection of dunks, splashes and game-winning shots stretching back 25 years.
“We really have looked at the quality of play and tried to pull in the best of the best this season,” Tedman said.
The expansion comes as the WNBA looks to capitalize on a growing fan base. Buoyed by strong ratings – a recent game notched 755,000 viewers, the most for a regular season broadcast since 2012 – the league has been on a deal-making spree with streaming services and now licensing partnerships.
“They were the only major team sports property that grew its TV audience through the pandemic,” Tedman said.
The new NFTs will live alongside NBA Top Shot’s men's “moments” to create “an ecosystem” of basketball that Tedman said she’s been pursuing since the first pack was introduced in 2020.
“What we’re really trying to do is create parity between the men's and the women's leagues,” Tedman said.
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