Tom Brady Featured in ESPN’s First NFT

ESPN will be putting out NFTs, according to a Bloomberg report Wednesday (April 6).

The sports outlet, owned by Walt Disney Co., will collaborate with Autograph, a Web3 brand co-founded by NFL quarterback Tom Brady, and will feature Brady in its first NFT. The NFT will be based on the quarterback’s “Man in the Arena” series on ESPN+.

The NFT will drop Wednesday and will be for sale on the DraftKings marketplace.

Brady had recently announced a retirement in February, but then he changed his mind and said he’d be back for a 23rd NFL season.

He’s also been active off the field in the last few years with various businesses going on.

Read more: Tom Brady Files for 26 Trademarks From Food Delivery, Restaurants, Water to Jewelry, Furniture

PYMNTS wrote in March that Brady had planned to use his name for products including meal kits and deodorant, filing 26 applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in March.

He had a long list including “food delivery, bottled water, protein bars, restaurants and retail boutiques to skincare, candles, eyewear, jewelry, furniture and gym equipment,” according to Bloomberg.

The report says this would be a large amount even for a big company to submit at the same time.

The report quotes Josh Gerben, a trademark laywer, who says Brady’s plan is to “leverage the value in his name and his brand as much as possible,”

“He clearly is one of the most well-known athletes of all time and the value that gets attached to his name is extraordinarily significant.”

Brady’s short-lived retirement came with the expectation of going into business with a net worth of around $250 million, while other living sports figures who did the same, including Michael Jordan, had much more money – with millions of dollars and decades of deals.

That said, even before Brady retired, when he was making around $30 million a year, he was already doing various kinds of business deals.