Legendary American sports magazine, Sports Illustrated unveiled a non-fungible token (NFT) ticketing platform, dubbed, “Box Office”, built on the Polygon (MATIC) network, a layer 2 blockchain that aims to help Ethereum (ETH) with its scalability.
Sports Illustrated has been dabbling with NFTs for quite some time now. The famed sports magazine had previously teamed up with several distinguished athletes to launch digital artworks. In May 2022, Sports Illustrated in collaboration with e-commerce giant, eBay and OneOf, a green NFT platform for music, sports, and lifestyle, announced the launch of a collection of NFTs featuring sporting superstars including, boxing legend Muhammed Ali and Canadian hockey player Wayne Gretzky.
World’s First Complete NFT Ticketing Service
In the latest development, the American magazine launched Box Office which combines an NFT ticketing solution with traditional, non-NFT tickets for sports, concerts, and theater events on the SI Tickets marketplace.
According to the official press release, Sports Illustrated’s fan ticketing site, SI Tickets, launched the NFT ticketing platform as a self-service event management and primary ticketing solution built in partnership with ConsenSys, the maker of crypto wallet, MetaMask. With Box Office, event organizers and hosts can create, manage and promote a ticketed live sporting event, performance or function.
As per the iconic magazine, the new platform is the world’s first complete NFT ticket service, allowing event owners and organizers to build engagement opportunities into tickets, such as highlights, collectibles, and offers through a feature called “Super Ticket.”
The Super Ticket feature will also offer after events through perks like highlights, collectibles, exclusive offers, and loyalty benefits among others. In addition, Box Office will provide 50 percent lower pricing compared to other platforms and enable hosts and performers to earn a share of resale revenues. David Lane, CEO, SI Tickets noted,
“Blockchain is the future of ticketing, and now owners, promoters, hosts and attendees have access to an advanced ticketing experience that transforms the antiquated barcode into engaging and collectible content.”
How NFTs Are Changing The Future Of Event Ticketing?
From music and gaming to virtual real estate and supply chain management, industries are adopting NFTs at an exponential rate. However, one sector that has specifically benefitted from this explosion is event ticketing. Tickets in the form of NFTs that exist on a blockchain can act as access passes to any live or virtual event, providing a more secure and convenient alternative to traditional ticketing.
NFT ticketing can also potentially help issuers interact with customers in a new way, offering perks like surprise giveaways, token-gated sites and services, and access to exclusive experiences and fan clubs.
Ticketmaster just rolled out token-gated NFT integration.
It’s a big deal.
Here’s how it works
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— musicben.eth 🎧 (@musicben_eth) March 27, 2023
Owing to these benefits, several popular brands and events have adopted NFT ticketing. For instance, the world-famous music concert, Coachella, has already issued 10 lifetime NFT passes. Recently, Argentinian low-cost airline “Flybondi” integrated Web3 into its ticketing process by issuing e-tickets as NFTs.
On March 27, one of the leading providers of event ticketing services, Ticketmaster, launched “token-gated sales,” allowing fans access to concert tickets using NFT technology. Individual artists have also started dabbling in this technology, including pop artist Pip and DJ Steve Aoki.
