The Australian Open is one of the biggest sports and entertainment events worldwide, delivering three weeks of Grand Slam tennis action every January. It is one of four major Grand Slams, joining Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and US Open on the tennis calendar.
Supported by major partner Kia in association with Emirates, Luzhou Laojiao, and Rolex, this year’s Australian Open will take place at Melbourne Park from January 17-30.
On January 17th, the Australian Open announced that it was releasing an exclusive series of NFTs to commemorate legendary moments in AO History.
The NFTs will highlight AO historical moments, legendary players, and 3D items themed for each time period. Six unique NFT collections will be featured, each celebrating an iconic decade of the Australian Open from the 1970s on, including a Commemorative Ticket, a 3D Tennis Racket, a full 3D Tennis Court.
AO has been working hard to promote their 2022 tournament, leveraging the possibilities available in the Metaverse and the power of NFTs, with considerable success coming from their “Art Balls” NFT release on OpenSea. As of January 17th, they have sold over 3,600 of these assets, with a price floor of 0.26 Eth ($875) and a trading volume of 223 Eth ($751,287).
The final set of digital collectibles will be released on January 27th, coinciding with the end of the Tournament. And just as the Tournament concludes on January 30th, the first 50 fans who have collected all six decades posters, will be granted an exclusive AO NFT Trophy to their Sweet blockchain wallet that features both the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup (Men’s) and the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup (Women’s).
This promotional event will feature multiple waves of collectible NFT sets, culminating in a chance to attend the 2023 Australian Open through an all-expense trip called “Happy Slam.”
While the items will remain constant, the skins will evolve to reflect the look of their respective time period. They will highlight classic memories involving iconic names such as Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Martina Navratilova, and Lindsay Davenport. Astonishing accomplishments from this year's event will also be featured.
This epic promotional series is the result of a collaboration between The Australian Open and the digital collection platform Sweet.io.
The Open has always been at the forefront of embracing innovative tech to expand audience and fan engagement. In 2020, the event hosted the Fortnite Summer Smash, an e-sports event with a $100,000 prize pool.
This year, NFTs are providing the AO with the ability to increase fan engagement and immortalize what is certain to be classic tennis moments from this year's tournament.
Sweet is a highly scalable, consumer-first, and environmentally conscious Non-Fungible Token (NFT) platform used by top brands worldwide, including Macy’s, Dave & Busters, the New York Knicks, Red Bull Racing, and Burger King. This digital concern has pioneered new, immersive, user-friendly technology and engagement methods enabling clients to deliver highly gamified NFT experiences in-venue, on mobile, or at home, driving both revenue and consumer engagement.
Tom Mizzone, CEO of Sweet, said: “We were delighted to work with the Australian Open and help bring these pieces of tennis history to fans across the globe. We love this idea of turning IP into digital memorabilia and tying that memorabilia back to an experience - the idea that the AO designed an umpire chair that had never been seen before and now tennis fans can own and display that umpire chair as an NFT is just amazing - it’s truly a new level of access.”
