Rob Gronkowski launches his own collection of NFTs celebrating his Super Bowl wins

Following the NBA Top Shot craze, NFL superstar Rob Gronkowski is entering the digital collectable space and releasing his own NFTs. The NFT collection will celebrate the player's four Super Bowl championships and will feature five different trading cards, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers star revealed on his social media accounts. Gronk's move comes after the NBA launched NBA Top Shot, which reportedly brought in $200 million in sales after entering the NFT market. 

Rob Gronkowski NFT: Bucs superstar follows NBA's suit, to sell NFT collection 

Tampa Bay Bucs star Rob Gronkowski has partnered with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) marketplace OpenSea to release five digital trading cards featuring his top Super Bowl moments. The NFTs will feature Gronkowski’s career highlights and are designed by visual arts studio Black Madre. The Rob Gronkowski trading cards will also feature hand-drawn art of "Gronk" during his four Super Bowl appearances. There will be 87 of each of those cards available, a nod to the tight end's number. 

NFTs are becoming more popular in the sports world, especially since the NBA’s partnership with Dapper Labs gained traction after recording more than $230 million in sales. The NFTs are tied to a blockchain, a digital ledger similar to the blockchains used for digital currencies like bitcoin. This effectively gives each NFT a unique and non-hackable certificate of authenticity. Along with the 348 NFTs, one “refractor card” will be auctioned, too. The owner of this NFT will receive a meet and greet with Gronkowski at an NFL game next season.

According to media reports, Rob Gronkowski was the "visionary" behind the project and was involved in the creative process. In an interview with CNBC on Monday, Gronkowski said he heard about the digital collectable space during the 2020 NFL season. He was further intrigued by the Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban's endorsement for the same and ultimately decided to enter the space. Gronk said, "I wanted my fans that are living in the digital world to be able to get a piece of this action". Gronkowski’s NFTs will be available on Thursday via Gronknft.com. Consumers can purchase digital artwork using Ethereum’s currency. The auction will conclude on Saturday. 

The Tampa Bay Bucs star thus is the first professional athlete to release his own NFT collection. The 31-year-old  is an unrestricted free agent after winning the Super Bowl last season, and the Bucs will be keen to tie-down the tight-end considering his partnership with legendary quarterback Tom Brady. Gronk, who made a retirement U-turn to play for the Bucs, said that there is a great possibility of re-uniting with Brady and the Bucs, and will definitely be playing football in 2021 in case Tampa Bay don't come calling. 

(Image Courtesy: gronknft.com, Gronkowski Instagram)