coindesk.com
The National Hockey League is embracing digital collectibles, two years after several other major sports leagues aped into the $NFT-fueled trend.
The initiative, NHL Breakaway, was announced in conjunction with Sweet, a platform for brands to create $NFT collectibles under the Ethereum ERC-721 standard on Polygon and the Ethereum mainnet, as well as the Tezos standard for NFTs. Terms of the arrangement between the NHL and Sweet weren't disclosed.
Sports-league collectibles became all the rage in 2021, when the National Basketball Association jumped into the arena with NBA Top Shot and the National Football League announced a partnership with Dapper Labs. Major League Baseball unveiled a tie-in for $NFT collectibles with trading card manufacturer Topps.
The official launch of NHL Breakaway was pegged for Wednesday, though earlier in the week Sweet's website was already promoting the new program. A beta version went live in April.
According to a press release, a "first-of-its-kind" feature of NHL Breakaway is "The Trade Lounge" – a "hub of collector community interaction where fans can trade packs and highlights of their favorite plays or NHL Players with others in the community."