In this episode of the I’ve Heard That podcast on the Hurrdat Media Network, host Max is joined by President of Hurrdat Innovations Brandon Taylor, Creative Director Max Riffner, and Union Omaha owner Gary Green to talk NFTs, Web3, and the future of the online experience.
What Is an NFT & Where Can You Buy One?
Taylor: NFT stands for non-fungible token. Most people are like “What does that even mean?” Fungible essentially means that, if we exchange something in the same asset class, it will keep the same value. So when we say non-fungible, think of it as art or your house. If we exchange art, it doesn’t necessarily have the same value. Non-fungible means non-replaceable. An NFT is a digital asset that’s verifiable on this blockchain in this crypto world. It’s a digital certificate on the blockchain that doesn’t keep the same value.
Riffner: There are several marketplaces where you can buy an NFT. OpenSea is one. Those all primarily work on the Ethereum blockchain, which is the main NFT blockchain. There are a bunch of alternative cryptocurrencies that also have marketplaces where you can buy NFTs.
Taylor: The largest marketplace is definitely OpenSea.io That’s where someone would go and search for topics they’re interested in to see what NFTs are available in that category. You have to have a digital wallet to purchase. You would find whatever collectible NFT you’re interested in, and then you would make a bid on it, or purchase it then and there. And then it gets transferred to your crypto wallet.
Why Was Union Omaha Interested in Creating an NFT?
Green: We like to be the first at everything we do. We wanted to be the first team to have a championship ring NFT. We asked Hurrdat to come up with some ideas on how to do it. We didn’t want to do something that was too complicated. We wanted to keep it simple for our fans. The NFT was free but gave fans the ability to get certain things for free or discounted. For where the technology is now and what’s available, I think we did it in the best way possible. Our fans are very forward-thinking and technology-focused, and we wanted to show them that we are forward-thinking and technology-focused.
What Happens Through the Minting Process?
Taylor: Gary came to us with the idea, and we started to brainstorm how we were going to roll it out. We created a landing page for fans who were attending a game. They were able to visit the landing page and put in their email address. They were then sent a claim code to make sure they could access the email we sent, and then from there they could claim and mint their NFT.
Green: We got to hear the pros and cons in real-time on social media. NFTs are kind of like the internet. When it first came out, people didn’t know what to do with it. Our fans had tickets and discount codes, and they were saying, “Why do I need an NFT?” In 15 years, we’ll have a conversation laughing about how everybody was hesitant of the NFT.
Taylor: It just takes time for people to adopt a new way of doing things, and that’s exactly what this is. What’s really cool is thinking about proof of attendance. If NFTs become concert or event tickets, you can prove that you were there. Imagine proving you were at Woodstock or something. Instead of having the ticket stub in your scrapbook, you have it forever on this blockchain.
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