Latrell Mitchell leads Australian athletes in fan engagement via home-grown NFT platform

NRL star Latrell Mitchell has been announced as one of the first Australian athletes to sign up with Stadio, a new home-grown NFT Platform.

Designed to enable direct engagement with fans as part of a new era for athletes to commercialise their own personal brand, fans can now acquire NFTs - the equivalent of digital, limited-edition sports memorabilia - from Mitchell’s personal collection. As he looks beyond purely on-field successes, this will include NFTs of Indigenous artwork painted by Mitchell’s Uncle exclusively for his collection,

Mitchell is joined by other Australian athletes, including Australian basketball players Dejan Vasiljevic and Sunday Dech, and football stars Milos Ninkovic and Alex Wilkinson, who have already signed onto Stadio before its official launch.

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have become increasingly popular over the past 12 months, allowing consumers to own and trade digital possessions. Stadio offers athletes (both professional and amateur) the opportunity to create their own personalised NFTs which in turn enables fans hold that NFT to receive dynamic benefits and exclusive experiences throughout the athlete’s career.

Stadio is one of the first blockchain projects that is building dynamic utility into NFTs that allows fans to earn tokens for ongoing access to exclusive benefits and experiences from their favourite athletes. With an ethos of ‘Come for the assets, stay for the experience!’ it is more than simpky acquiring a particular NFT, but goes a step further in nurturing a community of fans for the respective athletes.

For athletes, the Stadio platform enables them to unlock opportunities within the crypto space by directly monetising their name, image and likeness, as well as creating deeper, long-term relationships with their fans. The Stadio platform provides an exclusive opportunity to earn instant revenue, allowing more control over their worth, while also attracting new and highly engaged fans globally. Athletes have the chance to create NFT collectables related to their sport, favourite music, culture, personal brand or charity.

For amateur athletes, Stadio provides a platform to attract scouting exposure, as well as access to early investment that can be used to build their physical foundations as they endeavour to go pro.

For fans, the Stadio platform unlocks a unique opportunity to support and invest in their favourite athletes, along with gaining access to exclusive content including real life experiences and rewards.

The Stadio platform offers fans an exclusive set of NFTs and tokens. Fans earn tokens to redeem for physical and virtual benefits from their favourite athletes. Through a completely decentralised and secure blockchain, fans are able to buy and trade collectables and engage directly with their favourite athletes. Example benefits include Facetime Q&As, invitations to exclusive Stadio events, signed merchandise and personalised videos. Additionally, fans will be invited to join digital fantasy leagues and other gaming communities.

Funded by Sydney-based venture capital firm Scalare Partners which specialises in technology investment, the current pre-seed raise for Stadio was oversubscribed.

The team chose to build Stadio on the Algorand blockchain for its secure and truly decentralised technology. Already boasting an impressive list of partners and developers, the Algorand network utilises a ‘pure proof-of-stake’ protocol that ensures it is not only environmentally-friendly, but also can process transactions at high speed and low cost - all essential components to enable Stadio users to buy, trade and sell NFTs with ease and at scale.  

NFT stands for non-fungible token, a one-of-a-kind digital asset that belongs to a single individual or business. Initially popular for artwork and music, they are now being videos and tweets.

Image: South Sydney Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell (left) with Sydney Kings guard Dejan ‘DJ' Vasiljevic.