Bigglz × NHL · Follow-up Proposal

Turn NHL fans into a verified, connected community — through merchandise.

One tap of an official NFC product opens a safe, AI-moderated NHL fan community — no app download. Verified fans engage, predict, and speak to the league, while the NHL gains first-party data and a counterfeit-proof merchandise line.

Prepared for Christopher Golier · NHL Group VP, Global Innovation
Following our May 20 call — concept shaped around NHL's fan-retention priorities
Bigglz fan community product — Korean pro sports club
The opportunity

Fans want to belong. Merch can be the door.

From our conversation, the priority is clear: a tighter, more engaged fan community — and bringing in the 20–30s and female audience. The challenge is connecting that community to physical merchandise in a way that feels natural. That's exactly what we've already built for pro clubs.

No app

Fans enter by tapping a product with their phone — zero download friction.

Verified only

Authentic NFC merch proves a real fan — no bots, no anonymous abuse.

First-party data

Every interaction becomes consented fan data owned by the league.

The solution · Verified Fan Layer

Six things one NFC tap unlocks.

01 · ACCESS

No-app entry

Tap the official product → the community opens in the browser. Fully mobile-optimized, no install. A URL works too — but tapping the merch is what verifies you.

02 · SAFETY

AI-moderated community

Ads, spam, abuse and profanity are filtered in real time by AI — a brand-safe space the league can stand behind.

03 · IDENTITY

Verified Fan status

Buying an official team NFC product registers you as a verified team fan, with loyalty tiers to show off how deep your fandom runs.

04 · PLAY

Prediction game

Today's team fortune plus a free, gamified prediction game — points and leaderboards, not betting. Real wagering links out to the NHL's official sportsbook partners.

05 · VOICE

Verified Fan Voice

Verified fans share opinions, proposals, surveys and votes — the league hears its real fans directly. Inbound messages are AI-filtered so only constructive input comes through.

06 · DATA

First-party fan data

Every tap, vote and post becomes consented, league-owned data — fuel for product, content, sponsorship and retention decisions.

Counterfeit-proof by design

A chip that cannot be copied.

Verified Fan only works if the merch is genuinely un-copyable. We use cryptographic authentication NFC — not ordinary tags.

🔐
Unique code on every tap

The chip generates a one-time encrypted (AES) code each time it's tapped. A cloned copy can never reproduce it.

🛡️
Anti-counterfeit for licensed merch

Every official NHL product becomes self-verifying — protecting licensing revenue and brand integrity.

✅
Real fans only

Because counterfeits can't authenticate, only genuine buyers enter as verified fans — keeping the community clean.

Secure NFC
Cryptographic authentication chip (NTAG 424 DNA class)
AuthenticationAES encrypted, per-tap
CloningCryptographically blocked
Encoding & QCBigglz factory-side, every unit
Doubles asVerified Fan key
Already live with pro clubs

This isn't a concept. It's running today.

We already operate this — from soft fan engagement to full two-way community with fan-voice dashboards — for Korean professional sports clubs.

Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters fan community
Strong two-way · KBL basketball

Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters

NFC plush + a full fan community: fan posts, an AI chatbot ("ask Red-bu"), player-directed cheer messages, and AI-moderated responses. The exact pattern proposed here for the NHL.

Fan posts · AI moderation · message wall
FC Anyang AI interactive merch
Soft engagement · K-League football

FC Anyang

Tap the NFC keyring → club anthem playlist, daily fortune, and an AI chatbot for match info and directions to the stadium. Frictionless content engagement.

Anthem · fortune · AI chatbot
NC Dinos AI interactive merch
Soft engagement · KBO baseball

NC Dinos

"Dandi" tarot NFC keyring → tarot collection, anthem playlist, daily fortune and a team chatbot. Character-led daily engagement that keeps fans coming back.

Tarot · fortune · team chatbot
Club admin dashboard for fan data
Club-side · fan-voice dashboard

Admin dashboard & reporting

For Jung Kwan Jang and Yongin FC we also built the club-side dashboard and reporting that collects and reads fan opinion — the same management layer the NHL would use to understand its verified fans. (Yongin FC also runs an AI fan-post feed we built directly into their website.)

Live admin · fan-opinion reporting
Scope · what Bigglz delivers

We build it and run it.

Bigglz owns the full stack — product, platform, content and operations — so the NHL gets one accountable partner.

1
Platform development

Web-based community, Verified Fan registration, loyalty tiers, prediction game, fan-voice surveys & votes. No app required, fully mobile-optimized.

2
AI content & moderation

Real-time filtering (abuse, spam, ads) plus team fortunes, prediction insights and character content.

3
Authentication NFC

Sourcing, cryptographic encoding, in-product embedding and full QC of the counterfeit-proof chips.

4
Merchandise integration

Embed the chip into NHL / team products — produced by Bigglz, or added onto existing licensee lines.

5
Operations & reporting

Servers, AI runtime, community moderation, content refresh, and the league-facing fan-data dashboard & reports.

How we start

Small, fast, then scale.

Low-risk start
PHASE 1 · ~50 days

One team, one product PoC

A single team and a single NFC product to prove the full loop end-to-end — within Chris's direct decision scope, no NHLPA or club negotiation needed.

PHASE 2 · season

Season rollout

Expand the line, add Verified Fan Voice surveys around real league moments, and feed first-party data back to the NHL.

PHASE 3 · league

League-wide

Roll across teams and player lines with Randy's licensing line — NHL Alumni voice, active players, and team-by-team activation.

Why Bigglz

Proven, secure, and efficient.

Proven in market

Already operating fan community, AI moderation and fan-voice dashboards for multiple pro clubs — not a prototype.

Counterfeit-proof

Cryptographic NFC means the NHL gets authentication and anti-counterfeit built into every product.

Efficient structure

A lean, build-and-operate model with a competitive cost structure compared to typical US tech vendors.

Next steps

Three ways to start.

Or tell us — what would be most useful for the NHL to pilot first? We'll shape the PoC around it, and loop in Randy on the licensing side.