NFTs and Financing the Future of Potential Stars

NFTs are getting a lot of press.  For sure, NFTs have made a big splash in the art world.  I had an interesting conversation with a friend today about financing young athletes through the monetization of their right of publicity since the NCAA (and states) have begun allowing collegiate athletes to profit from their image etc.  One interesting issue concerns aspiring professional tennis players.  Often those players must make a decision between attempting to finance a shot at a professional career—a very expensive prospect, or go to college and see what develops.  Notably, as a friend mentioned to me, there are numerous excellent young tennis players who cannot finance the expenses to start a pro-career—expenses such as travel, coaching and trainer fees, hotel etc.  Many have to give up on a promising career because of a lack of funding.  Interestingly, this is a sport where economic class plays a big role—kids with less resources are unable to be developed and never get a legitimate shot at the pro-tour.  Allowing young players to monetize their right of publicity without damaging college prospects may be an interesting way for them to gather resources to support a professional career in the future and develop (maybe crowd-funding works).  Local businesses, family, friends and others could invest in young players early.  But, what if we could sweeten the deal?  What if we could use NFTs to create a market for, as an example, electronic playing cards for young athletes?  Can you imagine what the NFT “playing card” for an athlete such as a young Andre Agassi, Messi, Ronaldo, or Michael Jordan may be worth after they develop in the future?  There are a lot of details to sort out, but you can see how a market can develop creating an enormous amount of value and good (and yes, a potential for bad).  See here for Topps entry into the NFT market for trading cards: Topps Digital Launching Baseball Card NFTs (beckett.com).  What if we could expand the concept further?  There's no doubt that we are at a place where maximizing the potential of human resources is our greatest challenge.  This could be a way to help.  Extend it to brilliant children to finance their education?  IP and NFTs at their best?  It's an interesting thought experiment.