The Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball are dropping into the NFT market, the entities announced on Thursday, with a non-fungible token of the club’s elaborate 2020 World Series ring.
Candy Digital and MLB will auction off online the one-of-one NFT along with an actual version of the ring and a VIP first pitch experience at Dodger Stadium this Monday via Candy.com.
Net proceeds from the auction will benefit the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation.
The ring itself, presented in a video box to each Dodgers player and member of the organization this past April on Opening Day at Dodger Stadium, is worth $50,000.
It has 222 round diamonds, 10 princess-cut diamonds, 45 custom-cut sapphires and eight round genuine sapphires. Dodger season ticket holders were given an opportunity to purchase a limited edition of the ring for $35,000.
The Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays last October in six World Series games, all played because of the coronavirus in the neutral site of Globe Life Field in Arlington, Tex.
“The Dodgers are excited to work with MLB and Candy to continue the franchise’s legacy of innovation as the first MLB Club with an officially licensed NFT,” said Lon Rosen, Dodgers executive vice president and chief marketing officer.
“The opportunity to own a World Series ring in both digital and physical forms has never been offered previously, and we hope this is the first of many such drops as we continue to develop unique multifaceted experiences for our fans.”
This is the second auction born of the partnership between MLB and Candy Digital, which is currently offering an NFT of Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” speech delivered at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, two years before he passed away from ALS. That auction will be active until Thursday at 4 p.m. PT.
The Dodgers are also offering an open edition NFT “featuring a spinning 2020 World Series logo and the Dodgers’ shooting ball logo” for $20.20 each, with those proceeds also earmarked toward their foundation.
“As MLB continues to look for new ways to engage with our fans, the Dodgers World Series ring NFT presents an innovative offering to commemorate the first World Series champion of the new decade,” MLB chief revenue officer Noah Garden said.
