The Cryptocurrency market is making its way into the Sports Industry
Julio Herrera, Marketing & Communications. Jan 11, 2021 - 5 min read
Crypto is currently finding a home in sports. Crypto companies and firms have searched for different ways to reach new audiences, and they have found that way in sports. Sports leagues and teams worldwide have started to embrace this new form of payment in creative ways. Countless teams and leagues during 2021 have created various partnerships with Crypto firms. For example, in soccer, throughout the five major European Leagues, 24 clubs have launched or are considering the use of crypto fan tokens. These partnerships have proven to be valuable for both parties.
According to an analysis done by BBC News, soccer clubs are making hundreds of millions of dollars selling crypto fan tokens with estimated spending of more than USD 350 million. So far, the Cryptocurrency industry is finding its way into the sports industry with participation inside the Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, the NBA, UFC, MLB, NFL, Esports teams, and much more.
Crypto’s fingerprint in sports
Crypto has found its way into sports by creating partnerships with different sports leagues, teams, and athletes. For example, Shine Entertainment’s client Paris Saint Germain has announced a multi-year partnership agreement with Crypto.com, the world’s fastest-growing crypto platform. Moreover, Crypto.com has also acquired the naming stadium of the previous called Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA making it a milestone event in the industry and a record 20-year USD 700 million agreement. The Italian soccer club Inter Milan also found its way to the crypto industry with a $100 million multi-year partnership with Digitalbits.
Picture Source: Bitcoin.com
Digitalbits became Inter Milan’s sleeve sponsor through this partnership. With the help of Digitalbits, Inter Milan introduced crypto payments throughout all of their physical and online stores located in their stadium and across Milan. They also intend to create NFTs and digital player cards for the countless Inter Milan fans worldwide. Teams like FC Barcelona, Manchester City, Lazio, Santos, Porto, and Juventus are also in the crypto industry as they offer crypto fan tokens for all of their fans worldwide. According to BBC News, Lazio, Manchester City, and Santos appear to generate the most sales.
On the other hand, in Major League Soccer, Inter Miami recently announced a partnership with crypto finance firm XBTO making the crypto finance firm the primary jersey sponsor and making it the first soccer club in America with a cryptocurrency firm sponsor. Furthermore, the NBA partnered up with Dapper Labs to release NBA Top Shot which is an NFT marketplace for the NBA to sell digital collectibles. This marketplace will offer the opportunity for fans to purchase, trade, and sell NBA moments that are turned into small clips and function as digital trading cards.
Picture Source: NBA.com
Sports-related NFT marketplaces such as the NBA Top Shot have shown to be a good way to create more digital fan engagement. NBA Top Shot has become one of the most successful NFT marketplaces. According to Nielsen, within the United States general population, NBA fans and NHL fans are the sports fans showing more interest in investing in cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Sports fans are not only showing that they are aware of NFTs and cryptocurrencies, but they are showing the intention of investing and buying them. Below you can find a chart developed by Nielsen Fan Insights data which shows the U.S sports fan interest and intent on cryptocurrencies and NFTs:
Picture Source: Nielsen
Picture Source: Nielsen
There are still concerns in some leagues and teams
There are still sports teams and leagues that are hesitant when it comes to creating partnerships with companies related to the Crypto industry. Most notably the NFL is the league that is the most cautious when it comes to opening the doors to this new industry. The only NFL team that currently has a partnership inside the cryptocurrency industry is the New York Giants who created a partnership with crypto company Grayscale making them the Official Digital Currency Asset Management Partner. They are alone when it comes to NFL teams. The NFL restricted the selling of sponsorships with crypto firms within its teams this season and additionally soccer clubs Manchester City and FC Barcelona have recently been forced to cancel deals with crypto and NFT related companies due to the rise of validity concerns in some of those companies.
Picture Source: NFL.com
What’s next?
It is clear that there is a pathway for sports to be active and participant inside the sports industry especially since the boom of crypto in the past few years, several companies now have the power to invest large amounts of money into sports. Furthermore, due to the fact that there is a younger audience behind the cryptocurrency industry, athletes are also interested in participating within this industry such as Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi with their NFT collections or Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers who gets paid a portion of his salary in bitcoin.
In a recent interview with our CEO and Founder, Dario Brignole, he commented that “there is a new business model that is growing inside the sports industry and it is a great opportunity for clubs to engage with their fans through fan tokens or digital collectibles trading cards. In addition to that, we are seeing crypto and digital companies getting into a multimillion agreement with MLS teams such as Inter Miami with XBTO. Now is the time to focus on new trends and focus on creating new revenue streams.”
Picture Source: Major League Soccer