UFFS Announces Partnership With the Professional Hockey Players’ Association
Ultimate Franchise Fantasy Sports is thrilled to be partnering with the Professional Hockey Players’ Association, opening the door to thousands of PHPA Members — present and past — with the opportunity to become Digital Athlete NFTs on the UFFS platform.
The PHPA is the collective bargaining representative for all players in the American Hockey League (since 1968) and ECHL (since 1995), boasting approximately 1,600 members across 58 teams throughout North America. The PHPA Alumni Network includes a large percentage of current NHLers — more than 82 per cent of opening-night rosters this season — with a total reach of over 9,000 players worldwide.
“This is a huge deal for us, to be partnering with the PHPA and welcoming their Membership to our revolutionary platform,” said Tony Charanduk, UFFS president and co-founder. “We are gaining a lot of traction in the hockey world and getting some mainstream attention now. It’s great to see our vision coming to fruition and to be able to provide revenue streams for athletes at all levels, including unprecedented revenue from fantasy gameplay.”
The PHPA sent a newsletter Wednesday informing their Membership of this partnership and the response has been immediate and impressive, with dozens of players already reaching out to express interest in UFFS — ranging from current NHL, AHL and ECHL players to Alums playing in Europe as well as recently and long retired players.
“There is a lot of interest, as we anticipated, and we are working on a sign-up portal for the players to join through the PHPA and UFFS websites,” said George Bachul, UFFS director of business development who is heading up the NFT department. “Within the first day, we were inundated with emails from players at varying levels and different stages of their careers. The agents are also interested, of course. That newsletter from the PHPA was very well received, and we look forward to connecting with all players and agents, and helping them throughout the onboarding process. They will all have value on our platform!”
To date, there are more than 4,000 hockey players registered on the UFFS platform as gameplay contracts for the Ultimate Fantasy Hockey League (UFHL), the Ultimate Fantasy American Hockey League (UFAHL), and the Ultimate Fantasy World Juniors (UFWJ) — with other junior, minor and international leagues in the works as UFFS aspires to mirror the real world by offering fantasy gameplay at every level possible without any duplication.
Many of those gameplay contracts are property of scouts, another innovative element of UFFS — bringing scouting to fantasy sports on the Zilliqa blockchain, with more than 100 scouts scouring the globe for top prospects and hidden gems as young as 15 years old in hockey.
The NFT marketplace, Ultimate Sports NFTs, is in the process of launching with several high-profile athletes from various sports. As the players join the platform, they become Digital Athlete NFTs and benefit from a variety of revenue streams — including the fantasy gameplay, where their earnings are based on their contributions to the fantasy franchises. For the first time ever, athletes will be rewarded for their fantasy stats in UFFS leagues.
“The PHPA is proud to partner with UFFS and enter the NFT landscape, providing an innovative and engaging platform for both our current players as well as our vast Alumni Network to build their personal brand and generate additional revenue,” said Darryl Dionne, Director of Communications and Business Development for the PHPA. “Based on the response and player feedback we have received already, this partnership is poised to build and blossom for years to come.”
More and more real world hockey people are getting involved with UFFS in a variety of roles, seeing the potential of the platform and wanting to experience professional fantasy sports.
The Ultimate Fantasy Hockey League was featured on TSN’s Insider Trading, with Ethan Bear, Braden Schneider and Nolan Allan — a trio of talented defenders — becoming hockey’s first active Digital Athlete NFTs.
Cory Conacher and his family recently purchased a UFHL franchise for $80K USD in a record-setting sale, appointing Ryan Schmelzer as their GM. Ryan Malone is also a UFHL franchise owner and a Digital Athlete NFT for the upcoming Legends League as well as an ambassador with UFFS. Dave (The Hammer) Schultz is part of a UFWJ ownership group and is signed up as a Digital Athlete NFT for the Legends League where he’ll have value as the NHL record-holder for most penalty minutes in a single season.
The current lineup of Digital Athlete NFTs, in addition to the aforementioned hockey players, includes undefeated boxing champion Terence Crawford, football Legends like Cris Carter, Michael Vick, Nate Burleson, Eric Metcalf, Nik Lewis and Damon Allen, retired baseball players Ian Kinsler and Kameron Loe, and former basketball star Micheal Ray Richardson.
Carter, Vick and Crawford are among the high-profile franchise owners in the UFAFL football league. That list also includes former NHL star Martin St. Louis and his Seven7 ownership group; Chad Johnson, the former NHL goaltender; and Derek Stevens, owner of the Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and former owner of the Las Vegas 51s baseball team (AAA affiliate). Justin Morneau and Corey Koskie own a UFLB baseball franchise, while Rashad Phillips and Kendrick Perkins own a UFBA basketball franchise.
Craig Button is part of an ownership group for the upcoming World Juniors league (UFWJ) and also scouts for the UFFS platform, along with the likes of Sam Cosentino and Peter Loubardias, while Jamie Thomas serves as a scouting director, Dustin Nielson as a football GM, and Dean Millard as the head of baseball operations in addition to being a hockey franchise owner.
UFFS is also partnered with EliteProspects, InStat, PuckPedia and Fantalytica as well as Maplewood Hockey, a custom uniform supplier for the fantasy franchises.
For those interested in becoming a Digital Athlete NFT or for more information on UFFS, contact george@uffsports.com or info@uffsports.com. And check out the hockey website: hockey.uffsports.com.
Follow on Twitter: @TheUFHL @UFHL_Scouting @TheUFWJ @UFFSports
Join our UFFS Hockey Chat group on Telegram: https://t.me/UFFSHockey