NBA's Utah Jazz becomes first sports team to pair NFTs with metaverse experience

The NBA's Utah Jazz became the first professional sports team to pair a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) with a metaverse experience last Friday.

The event was also the first metaverse meet and greet in sports history.

Anyone who purchased the NFT back on Sept. 7, which was sold out in less than 90 minutes, was granted a virtual tour of the arena before heading into the virtual locker room access to speak with team owner Ryan Smith.

Participants then joined in a 45-minute Q&A where participants could ask Smith about nearly anything.

Krista Kim, a contemporary artist who helped create the Spatial virtual space, predicts that the metaverse will eventually be an extension of community engagement for all sports teams, brands, and organizations.

Both Smith and Riley Demps, the lead NFT Project Manager for the Jazz, believe the Jazz and the NBA are just scratching the surface of NFTs and virtual experiences—a process they both hope to lead in the future.

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France will ban plastic packaging for an extensive list of fruits and vegetables from January 2022 in a bid to cut packaging consumption, particularly the use of single-use plastic.

The government has published a list of around 30 fruits and vegetables that will be subject to the plastic packaging ban coming into effect on 1 January 2022. The list includes courgettes, aubergines and cucumbers, as well as apples, oranges and pears.

The country’s environment ministry estimates that 37% of fruits and vegetables are sold in packaging, and expects the measure to eliminate more than 1 billion unnecessary plastic packaging items every year.

“We use an outrageous amount of single-use plastic in our daily lives. The circular economy law aims at cutting back the use of throwaway plastic and boost its substitution by other materials or reusable and recyclable packaging,” the ministry said in a statement, cited by Reuters.

A limited number of delicate fruits and vegetables – such as peaches, apricots and red fruits – can still be sold with plastic packaging for the time being, but by the end of June 2026 all varieties will be subject to the ban.

The ban is part of efforts to implement an anti-waste law – adopted last year – that aims to support France’s transition to a circular economy.