.club

Overview

.club (often styled .CLUB or "dot-club") is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) created through ICANN's new gTLD program. It is positioned for use by clubs, communities, associations and organizations worldwide and was made available to the general public on May 7, 2014. The registry operates under Registry Services LLC, owned by GoDaddy.

History

Application and acquisition

• The .club application was filed on the first possible day of the ICANN new gTLD program (January 12, 2012).
• .club Domains LLC secured the string via a private auction in June 2013 after raising $7 million from 27 individual investors. It was the first new gTLD acquired via a private auction.
• Competing applicants included Donuts and Merchant Law Group LLP.

Contracting, delegation and availability

• A Registry Agreement with ICANN was signed (registry agreement noted on 8 November 2013).
• .club was delegated to the DNS root zone on January 18, 2014.
• The TLD became publicly available on May 7, 2014.

Operator change

• In April 2021 GoDaddy announced the acquisition of .club (reported April 6–7, 2021); GoDaddy Registry (Registry Services LLC) is the current registry operator.

Name-collision and technical considerations

• During the application process, .club was examined for potential name-collision issues with internal networks. The registry proposed reserving the top 50 collision names as a mitigation approach.

Usage and Audience

• Intended audience: clubs, associations, hobby groups, professional and amateur organizations, and communities.
• Actual adopters (reported): brands, celebrities, sports figures, entrepreneurs, startups, associations and individual clubs.
• Examples of community and organizational use cited include Rotary Clubs, school clubs and a range of bloggers and small organizations.
• Adoption and scale: industry reports cited widespread use and strong sales (including reports of topping ~200,000 registrations in earlier reporting), indicating notable uptake among diverse users.

Registration Rules

• .club is described as an unrestricted gTLD intended for general use by clubs and communities.
• Specific registration eligibility restrictions, minimum/maximum registration periods and allowed character sets are not detailed in the provided material.
• The registry submitted mitigation proposals for name-collision risks (for example, reserving a set of high-risk labels) during the application process.

SEO and Brand Impact

• Positioning and promotion:
  • .club was actively promoted by its original registry company and used marketing campaigns to raise public awareness.
  • The TLD has been marketed as an alternative namespace tailored to clubs, communities and related brands.
• Adoption by notable personalities and organizations has been used as a promotional asset (see notable examples), and industry reports have cited strong sales and visibility among new gTLDs.

Notable Cases or Examples

• High-profile and anchor uses cited in coverage and promotion:
  • Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson launched a site on a .club domain (50inda.CLUB) at a May 2014 event.
  • Professional athletes and celebrities reported as .club users include basketball player Tyler Johnson and cricketer Virat Kohli.
• Registry/industry milestones:
  • First new gTLD acquired via a private auction (June 2013).
  • Raised public investment for the auction and early promotion of the string.

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       CLUB

organisation: Registry Services, LLC
address:      100 S. Mill Ave, Suite 1600
address:      Tempe AZ 85281
address:      United States of America (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         IANA Contact
organisation: GoDaddy Registry
address:      100 S. Mill Ave, Suite 1600
address:      Tempe AZ 85281
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1 480-505-8800
fax-no:       +1 480-624-2546
e-mail:       iana@registry.godaddy

contact:      technical
name:         IANA Contact
organisation: GoDaddy Registry
address:      100 S. Mill Ave, Suite 1600
address:      Tempe AZ 85281
address:      United States of America (the)
phone:        +1 480 505 8800
fax-no:       +1 480 624 2546
e-mail:       iana@registry.godaddy

nserver:      A.NIC.CLUB 2001:dcd:1:0:0:0:0:10 37.209.192.10
nserver:      B.NIC.CLUB 2001:dcd:2:0:0:0:0:10 37.209.194.10
nserver:      C.NIC.CLUB 2001:dcd:3:0:0:0:0:10 37.209.196.10
nserver:      NS1.DNS.NIC.CLUB 156.154.144.215 2610:a1:1071:0:0:0:0:d7
nserver:      NS2.DNS.NIC.CLUB 156.154.145.215 2610:a1:1072:0:0:0:0:d7
nserver:      NS3.DNS.NIC.CLUB 156.154.159.215 2610:a1:1073:0:0:0:0:d7
ds-rdata:     54682 8 2 4fc0dbb4f04be413ba1c0b1e92f4c5f0ccebf7856370e20671af6417499db258

whois:        whois.nic.club

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://nic.club/

created:      2014-01-09
changed:      2024-04-16
source:       IANA