BOSTON and MORRISTOWN, N.J., May 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — DraftKings Inc. (Nasdaq: DKNG) has teamed up with Metabilia, a memorabilia and NFT company operating at the forefront of physical and digital collectibles, which will become the latest NFT supplier on DraftKings Marketplace. The collaboration introduces “Membership NFTs” for fans to chronicle the careers of top young players and will feature star major leaguers beginning with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ronald Acuña Jr., Shane Bieber, Wander Franco, Joe Musgrove, and Fernando Tatís Jr. This debut collection is expected to drop on May 4, 2022 starting at 3pm ET exclusively on DraftKings Marketplace.
“At Metabilia, we are focused on delivering NFT collectible programs that deliver high-quality benefits for the long term, and our Membership NFT programs allow fans to show their support for a young athlete and be a part of his or her journey,” Joseph A. De Perio, CEO of Metabilia. “As part of the strategic relationship, DraftKings Marketplace will be the exclusive distributor of authentic Metabilia NFTs that also incorporate historical pieces of game-used collectibles, career achievements and more.”
Metabilia has relationships with elite athletes and teams to help engage their fanbases through NFT projects and drops. This collaboration with Metabilia is consistent with DraftKings’ long term goal to bring top sports NFT creators to DraftKings Marketplace, which currently features drops from Autograph, co-founded by Tom Brady. DraftKings Marketplace has incorporated many iconic sports stars to date, including Derek Jeter’s first-ever NFTs ahead of his Hall of Fame induction. These opening drops with Metabilia will mark the next generation of baseball talent for fans to engage with through digital collectibles on DraftKings Marketplace, including exciting young stars like Fernando Tatís Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
“The affinity for sports collectibles continues to rise in the digital space, and DraftKings Marketplace is committed to building a fan-first destination that captures this growth and unlocks new experiences,” said Beth Beiriger, SVP of Product Operations for DraftKings Marketplace. “Metabilia brings a wealth of capabilities in sports memorabilia and this collaboration represents our latest efforts to immerse fans and form passionate communities around emerging star players.”
“Being a professional athlete today comes with countless opportunities to engage fanbases, and I am thrilled to be working with Metabilia and DraftKings Marketplace to embrace this exciting world of NFTs,” said Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
“Similar to these early seasons of my baseball career, we’re in the beginning stages of NFT technology, and fans can expect much more from us ahead as we power new kinds of fandom,” said Ronald Acuña Jr.
More information on DraftKings Marketplace is available here and on the DraftKings Marketplace Discord. For additional details on Metabilia and its business lines visit metabilia.io.
Media Contacts
media@draftkings.com
@DraftKingsNews
Nicole Johnson, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer
info@metabilia.io
About DraftKings
DraftKings Inc. is a digital sports entertainment and gaming company created to fuel the competitive spirit of sports fans with products that range across daily fantasy, regulated gaming and digital media. Headquartered in Boston, and launched in 2012 by Jason Robins, Matt Kalish and Paul Liberman, DraftKings is the only U.S.-based vertically integrated sports betting operator. DraftKings is a multi-channel provider of sports betting and gaming technologies, powering sports and gaming entertainment for operators in 17 countries. DraftKings’ Sportsbook is live with mobile and/or retail betting operations in the United States in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. DraftKings’ daily fantasy sports product is available in 6 countries internationally with 15 distinct sports categories. DraftKings is both an official daily fantasy and sports betting partner of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA TOUR and UFC as well as an official daily fantasy partner of NASCAR. Launched in August 2021, DraftKings Marketplace is a digital collectibles ecosystem designed for mainstream accessibility that offers curated NFT drops and supports secondary-market transactions. DraftKings also owns Vegas Sports Information Network (VSiN LLC), a multi-platform broadcast and content company.
About Metabilia
I Got It Holdings Corporation (dba Metabilia) is a technology company devoted to providing best-in-class software solutions to support partners in their pursuit to increase fan engagement and drive revenue, through its unique marketplace solutions and minting capabilities for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). With Metabilia’s solutions, partners can offer in-game memorabilia, unique experiences, One4One™ memorabilia items as a tradeable NFTs (Metabilia™), and a broad array of content-driven NFTs. The company is on the leading-edge of innovation of NFTs and is well-positioned in the convergence of physical memorabilia and NFTs and the convergence of collecting NFTs and investing. Metabilia has multi-year partnerships with franchises in the NFL and NBA and has direct deals with over 40+ elite athletes across sports. The company is also digitizing the artifacts within the Pro Football Hall of Fame and will offer metaverse applications later this year under a long-term exclusive contract. Metabilia offers portability amongst blockchains and can provide end-to-end minting and turnkey issuance and secondary trading platforms for its partners. Metabilia is privately held by its executive team, founders, athlete partners, and several family office investors. Athlete investors include Ronald Acuña Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. For more information, visit metabilia.io, download one of the company’s existing partner apps, and follow Metabilia on social media: @metabilia_io on Instagram and Twitter. As well as @metabilia on Discord, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Tik Tok.
DraftKings Forward-Looking Statements
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