A major sports betting platform and NFT collection are pairing up for unique NFL player NFTs, while Sorare launches it’s beta fantasy sports platform for the NBA. These are just a couple of the biggest headlines over the past week across sports and crypto. Let’s dive into these stories and more from the past week.

The Sports Slice

DraftKings Teams Up With Deadfellaz For NFL Player NFTs

DraftKings and NFT collection Deadfellaz are teaming up for a new Halloween-themed release that will utilize Deadfellaz IP and “transform 13 professional football players” as part of a new collaboration:

Collectible cards will be available starting October 25, and players will be able to utilize these in DraftKings fantasy football Reignmakers Football games, offering up to $1M in prizes for competing players. Player NFTs are expected to include Jalen Hurts, Matthew Stafford, Kyler Murray, Alvin Kamara, and more. The deal was facilitated through a DraftKings partnership with the NFLPA and OneTeam.

The DraftKings Reignmakers platform in partnership with the NFLPA operates on Polygon (MATIC). DraftKings Reignmakers recently announced a new collaboration with NFT collection Deadfellaz. | Source: MATIC-USD on TradingView.com

College Sports Platform Mercury Raises $7.5M

College sports fan experiences platform Mercury has signed over 70 Kentucky Athletics student-athletes, and is looking to scale up. The NIL on-chain platform operates across four different universities now, and this past week raised $7.5M to continue building via a seed round led by Multicoin Capital.

Beyond expansion into new markets, the capital is expected to help Mercury round out it’s leadership team and NIL roster. Mercury is focused on building NFT-gated experiences and exclusive content for collegiate athletes in the U.S.

Mercury joins the likes of platforms like Ocavu and VerifiedInk – among others – to look to make a splash in NIL via NFTs or blockchain engagement.

Sorare Launches NBA Fantasy Beta Program

The relatively fresh partnership from Sorare and the NBA is seeing some legs in quick fashion. Sorare’s beta product for it’s NBA platform launched in recent days, showing an early offering as the NBA season kicks off. Sorare’s deal with the NBA and NBAPA is less than two months old, and brings the world’s biggest basketball league under a Sorare umbrella that already includes European soccer and the MLB. Sorare’s push into U.S.-based sports continues.