Yes, Major League Soccer Really ‘Signed’ a Bored Ape NFT As a ‘Digital Athlete’
Image via MLS/Twitter
The history of professional sports is littered with baffling and comically bad signings, from Bobby Bonilla’s seemingly immortal contract to Josh Smith’s dire stay in Detroit to the entirety of the mid-2000s New York Knicks. But Major League Soccer just topped them all.
America’s top male soccer league announced the signing of a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT to a “professional contract” in an official press release on Friday. Dubbed “Striker,” MLS hyped up the signing as “the first digital athlete to sign with a professional sports organization” and promoted the NFT’s debut on the “virtual pitch” during Wednesday’s MLS All-Star Game.
The press release even included quotes from the algorithmically formed eyesore likely written by some poor PR intern:
“I’m extremely excited to join Major League Soccer, the fastest growing sports league in North America. In a league with players from more than 82 countries, it is an honor to be the first digital athlete. I can’t wait to get on the virtual pitch.”
This “signing” appears to amount to little more than a licensing deal and/or marketing campaign aimed at hyping up MLS and its forthcoming All-Star Game. MLS stated that Striker’s introduction was done in collaboration with ge3, a division of online marketing firm Get Engaged, but ownership of BAYC #6045, the NFT representing Striker, is currently held by Get Engaged. Well, kind of.
According to blockchain records, BAYC #6045 does currently reside in a wallet owned by Get Engaged, but the actual purchase of the NFT was completed by MoonPay. Yes, the same cryptocurrency payment platform responsible for the bullrush of celebrity NFT “purchases” and wince-inducing promotion of NFT ownership perfectly encapsulated by Paris Hilton and Jimmy Fallon’s stilted exchange about their Bored Apes on The Tonight Show in Jan. 2022.