How MLB Teams Are Using NFTs to Connect With Fans

Baseball collectibles have been around forever. Cards, autographed stuff, bobbleheads. NFTs seemed like they’d fit right in when they blew up a few years back, except it didn’t really work out how anyone thought it would.

Started Hot in 2021

MLB went all-in on NFTs when the market was going crazy in 2021. Partnered with this company Candy Digital that had some big names behind it; Michael Rubin from Fanatics, Mike Novogratz, Gary Vaynerchuk. Their first drop was a Lou Gehrig “Luckiest Man” speech NFT from 1939, one of one, proceeds to ALS charity.

Baseball already had Topps doing trading card NFTs before that. Topps just took their classic designs and made them digital with animations and stuff. Makes sense since Topps had been doing physical cards since like the 1950s.

The pitch was to give fans digital collectibles to buy and trade. Like physical cards but on blockchain so they’re verifiable and unique. That uniqueness was supposed to make them worth something, at least that’s what people said back then.

The Crypto Problem

NFTs need blockchain which ties them to crypto. MLB used Ethereum mainly which meant fans needed basic crypto knowledge. Not just for buying but trading on secondary markets too.

This created problems for regular fans. Most baseball fans don’t want to deal with crypto wallets and gas fees and all that. The connection to trusted bitcoin betting platforms and crypto gambling probably didn’t help perception either since people started associating NFTs with speculation. Companies tried making it easier, let people buy with credit cards and store NFTs without wallets. Worked okay but kind of defeated the purpose of blockchain ownership.

Teams Did Their Own Thing

Some teams went beyond the league deals and tried stuff themselves. Tampa Bay Rays did dynamic NFTs first in MLB where the artwork changed over time. Gave them away at games with countdown timers for their anniversary season.

Pirates ran giveaways too, free NFTs if you showed up with your ticket in the Ballpark app. Hall of Fame ones, theme night promotions. No cost which probably helped because by that point people were getting skeptical about buying NFTs. Free stuff tied to actual games worked way better than trying to sell expensive collectibles. When you’re already at the ballpark and someone hands you a digital souvenir, whatever, might as well claim it.

Sorare became MLB’s NFT fantasy partner in 2022. They had success with soccer already, something like 1.8 million users when MLB signed with them. Eventually hit 3 million subscribers. Works different than regular fantasy though. You don’t draft, you build teams from NFT cards you own. Buy the players you want, compete based on real stats. Win prizes, sometimes more cards or tickets. Younger people and crypto folks liked it more than traditional fantasy players who were used to season-long drafts. Sorare being global helped MLB reach international fans which they’ve been trying to do forever.

Everything Crashed

Late 2021 and early 2022 looked amazing. Candy Digital raised $100 million, got valued at $1.5 billion. Platform had 80,000 customers quick. Secondary market listings hit $100 million supposedly. Then it fell apart. Crypto crashed mid-2022 and NFTs went with it. Candy laid off over a third of staff by November. Monthly buyers dropped from 11,000 to 3,000 in just a few months. Fanatics owned 60 percent of Candy and sold their stake in 2023; Michael Rubin literally said NFTs weren’t “sustainable or profitable as a standalone business” in an internal email. That was brutal because these weren’t random people, they were successful businesspeople admitting it failed. NBA Top Shot hit $200 million in monthly trading during the boom but baseball never got close to that and it wasn’t coming back anyway.

Changed to Free Tickets

After things crashed, Candy pivoted hard. Instead of selling collectibles to NFT traders, they gave away commemorative NFTs to regular fans at games. Digital tickets marking your attendance basically. Candy’s CEO said they onboarded 100,000 new people through digital ticketing in 2023. Most had never touched blockchain stuff before. Go to a game, get a free ticket NFT, maybe check out some cards while you’re there. The whole strategy shifted from making money on sales to just getting people comfortable with digital collectibles. Some bought stuff after but mostly it was about exposure without pressure.

Where Things Stand Now

Futureverse bought Candy Digital in 2025, took over their MLB, Netflix, NASCAR, WWE partnerships. Over 4 million NFTs and 1.5 million accounts came with it. Plan is integrating everything into their metaverse platform with AI experiences or something. What that means for baseball fans nobody really knows yet. Sorare still runs their fantasy game with decent numbers. Teams do occasional NFT promos but nothing like 2021-2022. Most MLB NFTs lost value after the crash, that’s just reality. Stuff that sold for hundreds might be worth $10-20 now if you can even find buyers. Secondary market died except for rare one-of-ones maybe.

Conclusion

Nobody’s totally giving up but the approach changed completely. Now it’s about utility beyond just owning a file. Dynamic NFTs updating with player stats, tokens unlocking real experiences, fantasy game integration; things that actually do something.

Futureverse’s metaverse angle could work if done right. Virtual ballparks where your collection displays, NFTs as avatars in baseball games, those ideas sound better than static image files. MLB’s not alone figuring this out, NBA and NFL all tried NFTs and hit similar walls. Sports leagues see potential but nobody’s figured out mass adoption.

The early boom probably hurt more than helped by setting crazy expectations. If MLB started with smaller utility-focused things instead of chasing speculative gains, maybe more fans would’ve accepted it. Instead people got burned and now NFTs have a bad reputation. Baseball’s NFT relationship keeps evolving. Technology’s not disappearing but how teams use it probably looks nothing like 2021 when everyone thought they found the next big collectibles revolution. That ship sailed and sank pretty quick.

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