We’re delighted to announce that Locker Token has formed a strategic Web3 partnership with Pro Hockey Development Group (PHDG) to further plant hockey and sports in general to the blockchain.
As this deal has come together, we have been working closely with hockey teams like Manchester Storm and Rögle BK for many months. What inspired us the most was seeing that the PHDG team recognizes the importance of providing sports memorabilia services and building in Web3.
Web3 is the next generation of the internet that will allow sports fans to own digital assets within a decentralized and open environment. Over the next few years, we believe every sports team and athlete will provide Web3 products — to the point where Web3 will become synonymous with physical trading cards.
The PHDG-Locker Token partnership brings over 600,000 Canadian-registered PHDG members to the Web3 ecosystem, providing fans with player-specific trading cards and their respective attributes.
The collaboration will provide PHDG with the technology to create and mint Hockey NFT Trading Cards for each player on its roster. Each NFT will be unique, with player attributes and rarity embedded in the playing card’s metadata.
Onboarding The Youth To Ice Hockey And NFTs
The Pro Hockey Development Group, as an organization, supports young hockey players to reach their potential as young professional hockey players by giving them the tools, training, and experience to realize their dreams of playing hockey. Many PHDG members go on to play professionally in leagues like the NHL, USHL, Canadian Junior Leagues, and NCAA.
The PHDG plans to leverage Locker Token’s blockchain platform to tokenize its players by creating NFT cards with player info and stats, helping its protégés gain recognition from professional scouts.
The idea is to allow scouts to utilize the metadata entrenched within Locker Token NFT trading cards to find team prospects without the need to travel out to see them physically. Such a data-driven scouting method has gained some popularity in soccer. The use of NFT player card databases to validate performance may be the future of ice hockey scouting.
Lindsay Hofford, President of Pro Hockey Development Group and Highlight Sports, states, “Pro Hockey Development Group and Highlight Sports are excited to announce our partnership with Locker Token. The Locker Token team have created an exciting digital platform, and we look forward to bringing a variety of NFT’s and collectibles to our players.”
NFT Cards With Embedded Stat
With over 600,000 players on its roster, each PHDG player will be “tokenized.” Each player will be turned into a one-of-kind player NFT card featuring recorded stats like such as goals, assists, and accomplishments, which can be updated in real-time. With this live updated feature, players can showcase their careers to scouts, fans, and other players their mettle. The card’s rarity can be a means to measure a player’s prominence. The rare a player card is, the more sought-after the actual player could be.
A player’s prominence and skills will be displayed on a leaderboard for everyone to see.
Of course, to protect the identities of minor players, names will be redacted, with the first mint available only to parents. Player Hockey NFT playing cards will only be able to be minted by parents. After that, parents will be able to share the NFTs, and the underlying metadata with all the player information to coaches and scouts, simplifying the scouting process. the scouting process that much easier.
What’s Next
Locker Tokens live natively on the Ethereum and Matic blockchains. This way, parents can pay with cryptocurrencies to mint their child’s NFT through the Locker Token Marketplace.
Player NFT cards are expected to start being available on the Locker Token platform at some point this month.
Locker Token cards can then be stored via the Locker app, available on both the Apple App Store and Google Playstore.
For more information on buying NFTs, visit our How To Buy NFTs guide.
