Utah Jazz launch revolutionary NFT-based virtual locker room

Fans of the Utah Jazz across the globe would scramble for the opportunity to enter their favorite team’s locker room and chop it up with franchise legends. In the past, they’d need either a deep connection or bag of money to make that dream a reality. Now, all they need is a Non-Fungible Token (NFT).

The Jazz will be the first professional sports team in the world to offer access to a virtual locker room via NFT. Team owner Ryan Smith says the opportunity is as important for the Utah community as it is for the team’s more tech-savvy fans.

“The NFT program is our opportunity to show the world that technology is thriving in our state, and we intend to be on the forefront of innovation as we move forward,” he says.

For those who are unfamiliar with the concept of an NFT, they are effectively virtual gift certificates, as cryptocurrency is to cash. The difference is that while a unit of cryptocurrency can be exchanged for anything from anyone who accepts them (in other words, they’re fungible tokens) an NFT can only be exchanged for the unique item it’s associated with.

In the case of access to this groundbreaking Utah Jazz initiative, that translates into a virtual tour of the Jazz locker room and the opportunity to interact with a franchise icon, whether it’s a player, former player, coach, owner or part-owner. The team will sell multiple NFTs associated with different franchise icons throughout the season.

The first of this series of NFTs is available for purchase as of today. They can be bought at rarible.com and will be secured through the Ethereum blockchain. Sales will run through to September 15 unless they sell out beforehand, and 30 NFTs will be made available for the opportunity.

Hopefully, two Utah Jazz legends in particular can develop a more opened-mind to technological advancements.