DOAF NFTs Take Off

Division Street has a new platform to help University of Oregon student athletes take advantage of their NIL opportunities: “Ducks of a Feather” an online NFT platform designed to connect U of O student athletes to fans, boosters and collectors. It’s a market not much older than the NIL opportunity itself, which, according to Division Street CEO Rosemary St. Clair, is right on brand: “The Oregon brand has always stood for innovation and been immersed in culture, so it was natural for us to create the first unique online platform dedicated to representing and benefitting student-athletes.” Ducks of a Feather’s first offering, “Flying Formations,” was created in collaboration with the Oregon football team and consists of 120 unique, one-of-one digital art pieces created and serialized by legendary Oregon alum Tinker Hatfield based on the Oregon Duck logo. Each NFT in the collection will be accompanied by a hyper-limited special-edition Nike Air Max 1 also designed by Hatfield and featuring a representation of the NFT on the tongue of the shoe. Hatfield says the inspiration for the NFTs’ design stemmed from stories of brotherhood from Oregon football players, and that he wanted to represent both the unity and the individuality of the players on the team, represented through the Oregon Duck. “As a former Oregon student-athlete, I remember clearly the sense of brotherhood that exists within our teams, and it was an honor to create a depiction of that through the design of Flying Formations.I have such a passion for the school and the athletes—it’s a dream to work on something unique like this that directly supports them.”— Tinker Hatfield Seven of those athletes– Jamal Hill, Noah Sewell, Justin Flowe, Mase Funa, Kris Hutson, TJ Bass and Brandon Dorlus—all members of the Oregon Football team, were contracted to provide specific content for the initiative. Nearly 70% of revenue from the initial auction of the collection will go to participating football team members, while 10% will go to Division Street to distribute amongst the broader roster of teams. Said Hill about the collection, and the opportunity: “Oregon is a special place that’s meaningful to each of us individually, but it’s our work together as a team that makes us who we are. We came from all over, with different backgrounds, experiences and circumstances. But once we landed at Oregon, we become family. We can’t wait to share this collection with the world and provide 120 fans with a truly unique experience.” Flying Formations’ initial auction will take place on Division Street’s DucksOfAFeather.xyz site, while secondary market sales of the NFT can take place on existing NFT marketplaces like OpenSea. Each time an NFT is sold on the secondary market, 10% will go to a Division Street fund that provides support across all U of O athletic programs. While Flying Formations is the first collection from Ducks of a Feather, St. Clair emphasizes it is only the beginning: “We continue to focus on creative and distinct ways for Oregon athletes to monetize their brands, and we think Ducks of a Feather will serve as a long-term platform to do that.”

As Division St. CEO Rosemary St. Clair explains, the timing, the project and the people all seemed to align: “As the 50th anniversary of Title IX drew near, we were inspired by two women University of Oregon trailblazers – Sabrina Ionescu and Sedona Prince – who regularly use their voices and platforms to shift the landscape of women’s sports.” Having landed the theme for the NFTs, “Visions of Flight,” which speaks to both the legacy and the future of women athletes, Division Street enlisted Sedona and eleven other student-athletes across every U of O women’s sports program to help create the NFT designs in collaboration with Lili Tae, who St. Clair says was a great fit because she “is a trailblazer in her own right as an artist.” The athletes were asked to best describe themselves by choosing from a series of icons, colors and attributes—including confidence, resilience, intuition, growth, gratitude and more. Using their unique choices and personalities, Lili created a 1-of-1 NFT for each of them, which were then scaled and iterated to create the collection of one-of-a-kind generative NFTs.

The exclusive offering marked the first collaboration between Division Street and Nike’s digital assets studio, with the purpose of rewarding RTFKT NFT holders and supporting University of Oregon student-athletes. RTFKT Clone X and Flying Formation NFT holders were allowed to register for an exclusive private mint draw in which 291 winners were randomly chosen to mint their NFT. Each minted NFT included downloadable 3D wearable files of the helmet for digital wearability, as well as access to creative content associated with the helmet. Ten of the 291 AR helmets were randomly selected and digitally signed by Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike. Collectors of the NFT could also forge an exclusive 1/291 physical football jersey during the helmet-minting process. Those receiving the 10 digitally autographed helmets also received an actual physical jersey signed by Phil Knight. The 291 collector’s jerseys, designed by Todd van Horne, combined elements from Van Horne’s 20+ years of Oregon Football uniform designs into a single jersey. Proceeds from the sale went to supporting University of Oregon student-athletes. The event marked a notable pairing in more ways than one, according to Division Street CEO Rosemary St. Clair. “It was great to offer a unique combination of digital and physical collectibles,” St. Clair said. “We were able to align our mission of supporting U of O student-athletes with RTFKT’s mission of supporting creators and artists.”