Nine college football players featured in latest Candy Sweet Futures NFT collection drop

Candy has announced the second half of its Sweet Futures NFT collection.

The Sweet Futures NFT program was launched last year as one of the first opportunities for college football players to use their NIL in the digital collectible space.

Focused on creating officially licensed NFTs, the Sweet Futures program has 17 players this year. Starting Thursday, fans can access memorabilia for eight new athletes.

Braelon Allen (Wisconsin), JT Daniels (West Virginia), Ga’Quincy McKinstry (Alabama), Malachi Moore (Alabama), Zay Flowers (Boston College), Sevyn Banks (LSU), Mycah Pittman (Florida State), Noah Sewell (Oregon)and Sam Hartman (Wake Forest) will all have NFTs featuring their NIL go live this afternoon.

This follows September’s drop, which included Bijan Robinson (Texas), Taulia Tagovailoa (Maryland), DJ Uiagalelei (Clemson), Josh Downs (North Carolina), Jadon Haselwood (Arkansas), Nolan Smith (Georgia), Bo Nix (Oregon) and Jack Bech (LSU). 

Fans have two ways to purchase NFTs featuring their favorite college football players. Mystery packs, which are valued at $20, contain one icon — a certain type of NFT — at random from the players included in this first drop.

The other option is to buy a seven-pack of icons, picked at random, which costs $125. Fans are guaranteed a rare version of an icon with a seven-pack. There are three versions of an icon: core, rare and legendary.

Once purchased, NFTs can be listed on Candy’s secondary marketplace. Fans will be able to buy and sell the digital collectibles to try and find their favorite player even if it wasn’t in their initial pack. This year’s collection also includes a dynamic challenge. Collectible holders will have the ability to win prizes such as two all-inclusive tickets to this season’s Rose Bowl and additional NFTs.

What is an NFT?

An NFT is a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art, music, in-game items and videos. They are bought and sold online, frequently with cryptocurrency.

Although they’ve been around since 2014, NFTs are gaining notice now because they are becoming an increasingly popular way to buy and sell digital artwork. More broadly, NFT sales totaled $25 billion in 2021. It comes one year after seeing only $95 million in sales in 2020, according to data collector DappRadar.

Trading volumes in NFTs have tumbled 97% from a record high this past January. They slid to just $466 million in September from $17 billion at the start of 2022, according to data from Dune Analytics. Per Bloomberg, the fading NFT mania is part of a $2 trillion wipeout in the crypto sector.

NFTs are associated with NIL because it is a unique way for athletes to monetize their brand. Athletes receive cash for their NIL in the digital artwork, and they also stand to make a commission off the sales.

Candy Sweet Futures have been a major player in the space, but so has the Players’ Lounge. More than 50 student-athletes from some of the top college programs in the country signed NFT deals with The Players’ Lounge back in March.

Eleven members of Georgia’s national championship team were part of an NFT launch with DGD Mafia, a Players’ Lounge club, that sold out in three hours and raised more than $305,000 in sales. Each student-athlete received $28,000.