It's interesting that Gene Smith retweeted this ↓ tweet.
At Knight’s prompting, Hatfield created a piece of art featuring star Ducks defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux, and turned it into a non-fungible token, a digital art piece that Thibodeaux could sell. It shows him in three different poses, his name stretched big across the background and Hatfield’s signature scribbled into the corner. The Ducks player announced the NFT* on July 6 and has listed it on marketplace Opensea, where editions are selling for 0.045 ETH (around $89.12) each.
Though Hatfield and Knight are inextricably linked with Nike, the collaboration between them and Thibodeaux on the NFT does not involve Nike in any way—the brand hasn’t offered a public stance on the NCAA rule changes.
For the sportswear execs, two men who have given considerable money and energy to the University of Oregon, it is a move toward creating a more reciprocal relationship for athletes who bring in money at top schools without reaping direct financial benefits. They are keen here to play just within the rules, even though neither made history by adhering closely to them. Knight is more cunning than his bored, set gaze suggests, and Hatfield can be brazen, operating with a level of independence afforded by his storied career.
Their work with Thibodeaux is a hopeful experiment, a suggestion that talent at universities like Oregon deserve more than room, board, and tuition.
“Everybody else is making—everybody else meaning the advertisers, the NCAA, the coaches—they’re all making millions and millions of dollars,” Hatfield says. “So Phil Knight has really been driving this particular project. And he called me up and said, ‘We’ve got to do something.’”
* non-fungible token, a digital art piece
