DALLAS — Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. And perhaps no one who is would ever tell you this, but a ticket to go see the Dallas Mavericks can actually be an investment right now.
Another disclaimer: Even the Dallas Mavericks say, “We are not recommending Mavs NFTs as investments or that you even sell them, because remember, the more games you go to, the more Mavs NFTs you collect. The more Mavs NFTs you have the more fun stuff you may get from the Mavs!”
What are NFTs again? And can they actually be worth something?
Even though the Mavs advise you to hold on to these collectibles, you can sell them or buy them from someone else who is selling… or you can trade them.
A quick refresher about NFTs: Instead of art that hangs on a wall, an NFT is essentially a piece of digital art or a collectible that you keep inside your computer or cell phone. Mavs NFTs are like virtual collectible trading cards, instead of the old trading cards that were printed on paper.
Many people don’t understand NFTs. And even some who grasp the concept have difficulty believing that a virtually stored digital drawing of a basketball player could actually hold value. But way back in the day, it probably used to seem unbelievable that a printed picture of a baseball player would eventually sell for more than $6.6 million, but last year that happened.
How Mavs NFTs work
Anyway, since the Mavs are owned by a guy who made a fortune in tech and is often out front on technology, they’ve jumped in to NFTs. When game attendees enter the American Airlines Center and scan their ticket through the Ticketmaster app, the Mavs email them a team collectible, which has included some well-known former players.
This is one of mine:
I own number 5,012 of 10,000 NFTs of Michael Finley. You can screen grab that picture, print it out and post it to your own social media accounts. But I am the only one who can sell or trade the original, because each NFT is protected with blockchain, which essentially puts unique codes into the data associated with each individual image that proves it is the original.
And people are buying and selling these. There’s a whole marketplace.
The Mavs won’t reveal to me how many have changed hands, but they say that quite a few of these have sold for more than the price of the game ticket they came with… and that one Mavs NFT was going for around $900.
Get ready for the Dirk Nowitzki NFTs
That brings us to the Jan. 5 NFT, which will feature Mavs legend Dirk Nowitzki. It is being given out on the night the team retires his jersey.
The Mavericks expect the number of people who claim the Nowitzki NFT to be larger, so here is their plan to make it extra special: “We will have four different Dirk uniform NFTs distributed. Everyone will get one of the four. And the number of each won't exceed 6,000 and can be as low as 2,000. So, they will be scarcer than in the past.”
I don’t have to be a financial advisor to know his NFT will likely be worth some money. But of course, that NFT will have an even greater amount of sentimental value for many MFFLs (Mavs Fans For Life) who are in attendance. Many of them will likely hang on to that special token commemorating the greatest player ever to wear the Mavs uniform. It may benefit you to hang on to as many of these digital pieces as possible.
The team is just getting started with this, and says it will, “Reward fans who go to the most games and claim their NFTs… or who collect their NFTs with unique NFTs and other digital items”.
So, perhaps, hold on and stay tuned.
To collect, don’t be late, check your email, and have your own Ticketmaster account if someone gives you a ticket
In order to be eligible to receive your Mavs NFT, you shouldn’t be late to the game. The Mavs website says you must have your Ticketmaster ticket scanned before the middle of the second quarter of the game. But when I emailed the organization, they said you need to scan in by the end of the first quarter of the game. It might be best to aim for that earlier deadline. After all, presumably, you are showing up to see the game.
If someone buys multiple tickets, and distributes a ticket to someone else, the Mavs advise that each person creates their own Ticketmaster account: “If you have more than one person on an account it's best to create an account for each attendee, send them their ticket and have them scan it at the game.”
I have talked to people who wondered why they didn’t get their NFT after attending a recent Mavs home game. They hadn’t checked the email associated with their Ticketmaster account. When they did, they found an email sent by “Mavericks Collectibles” with a subject line that reads “Dallas Mavericks Sent You MetaMavs (followed by the name of the player or coach they gave out that night).
If you scanned in under your Ticketmaster account and did so before the end of the first period, search for that in your email. If you still don’t find it, check your spam folder or your trash—maybe you deleted it without knowing.
Once you find your Mavs NFT email, click VIEW, and a new window will open taking you to your Ticketmaster sign in, where you can access your Mavs NFTs. You have the right to claim your NFT for the length of the season, but after that, the Mavs caution, “We have the option to delete it at the end of the season. That increases scarcity.”
To date, the team says thousands of people have claimed their Mavs NFTs. The team says it has been softly launching the program to make sure they eliminate any kinks before making a bigger public push.
If you have more Mavs NFT questions, look here for some answers.