Sports NFTs as multidimensional digital assets: online public discourse and strategic implications from NBA social big data

Abstract

This study aims to provide foundational data for developing sports non-fungible token (NFT) marketing strategies and enhancing fan experiences by analyzing public sentiment and semantic structures of NBA NFTs. Social big data were collected between 2021 and 2025 from six global platforms (Google, YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, Yahoo, Quora) using the TextoM platform. The analyses conducted included text mining, sentiment analysis, semantic network analysis, and CONCOR analysis. Central keywords included NFT, NBA, TopShot, player, team, marketplace, and crypto. Sentiment analysis indicated 67.5% positive and 32.5% negative sentiment. Semantic network analysis revealed a structure centered around NFT, community, news, game, and blockchain. CONCOR analysis identified five clusters: NFT Infrastructure, NBA Branding, Market Economy, Community Engagement, and Temporal Context. Overall, NBA NFTs are perceived as technical assets and as emotionally driven, identity- and community-centered content. The findings of this study offer significant practical implications for practitioners and managers in the sports industry by guiding the development of marketing strategies that integrate emotional engagement and multidimensional consumer value. This study contributes to the emerging literature on sports NFTs by providing exploratory discourse-level insights into how NBA NFTs are discussed across online platforms and by identifying themes that may inform future theory-driven research at the consumer level.