How Sports Partnerships are moving Crypto towards mass adoption
The companies behind the nascent crypto and blockchain industry are making multi-million-dollar investments into sports deals. Sports sponsorships in basketball, football, baseball, UFC, eSports, and Formula 1 are aimed at engaging sports fans and building legitimacy. With the rampant proliferation of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, mainstream acceptance is the new focus that will lead to crypto deals with sports teams reaching $5 billion by 2026.
As blockchain-related technologies gain validation by regulatory authorities worldwide, cryptocurrency is on its way to becoming more than just a speculative asset. With institutional money entering the market, blockchain is gaining credibility. Other than being used instead of conventional currency, blockchain technologies offer great value to people’s daily lives with their myriad of applications in sectors like data science, healthcare, academia, finance, international trade, and cybersecurity.
Crypto brands realize that the growth in equity can largely be attributed to having a dedicated community behind one’s project. With crypto companies finding value in sports deals, it is a big indicator that they are creating a community among sports fans who can help them touch new heights.
The cryptocurrency industry is constantly exploring new synergies in the competitive sports space. The investments are massive, the deals are with top names in sports from the LA Lakers to Manchester United, the crypto crowd wants to be taken seriously and they’re paying top dollar to get the attention they deserve.
Sports brands are looking to prove themselves as digital-first brands, so they can connect with Generation Z. To associate with big names in crypto means to present themselves consistently to their key demographic as an organisation that is keeping up with the times. This strategy is an intelligent move to maintain trust and credibility by associating with big blockchain players that can also help them add additional revenue streams.
Crypto’s Journey into the Mainstream
Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies have taken 10 long years to traverse a bumpy road from the depths of the internet to a much-coveted asset. Mass adoption remains a struggle because of multiple reasons, the topmost being that it’s quite new, not the easiest technology to understand, and not everyone is on the same page about it.
There is a great need to bridge the gap between awareness and conversion. The industry is unfamiliar to the general public even though awareness is slowly rising. It is about time cryptocurrencies and other blockchain-backed technologies were known for more than the colossal price hikes of Bitcoin and Shiba Inu.
This is where sports sponsorships come in. Each of the sports that crypto brands have ventured into have millions if not billions of fans. These sponsorship deals will bring crypto and blockchain to the masses, it is a fascinating yet one of the more traditional ways to gain customers. Instead of going down the well-trod path of digital marketing—paid Google and Facebook ads—the choice to associate with beloved sports teams is an extremely strategic move to overcome the bias against the industry.
Major Crypto Sports Deals
Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, in terms of the daily trading volume. It is the newest major sponsor of the Argentine Football Association for the next five years. Expect Messi’s kit in the upcoming FIFA World Cup to read “Binance”. That ought to bring some major attention to crypto. Binance also signed a $30 million deal with Italian soccer club Lazio.
Across the English Channel, the famous Manchester United Football Club has been officially sponsored by Tezos. Tezos is a decentralized open-source blockchain and it will appear on the kit worn by the Red Devils. The deal is in excess of $27 million a year. In addition to sponsoring the world’s most popular football club, Tezos has partnered with sports streaming service FloSports and has also become the New York Mets’ first blockchain deal.
Tezos markets itself as one of the more energy-efficient blockchain platforms in a sea of carbon-guzzling blockchain companies, making it an attractive sponsor for the young sports fan.
In bigger news, Crypto.com is sponsoring the FIFA World Cup this year. It will be the World Cup’s exclusive cryptocurrency trading platform and you can expect to see advertisements inside and outside the football stadiums in Qatar later this year.
The FIFA World Cup is the most watched sporting event on television. It is a grand platform and it means that Crypto.com is serious about connecting with the common man. So serious it spent $40 million on this deal and another whopping $700 million to purchase the naming rights to Staples Center in Los Angeles for the next two decades, renaming it Crypto.com Arena.
UFC has also managed to get on-trend and get a piece of sports cryptocurrency money. Crypto.com has signed a $175 million deal for 10 years that will give their brand a presence on the fight kit items. This is in addition to a $100 million sponsorship with Formula 1. Crypto.com’s aggressive sponsorship spree extended to the Philadelphia 76ers to sponsor the jersey patch in an eight-figure deal.
Beyond the Game
Blockchain-backed companies have more tricks up their arms to attract people than just advertising in arenas and jerseys. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are blockchain-based tokens that represent a unique asset like a piece of art or digital content. Binance will build a platform for Alpine F1 fans to buy NFTs. Crypto.com will also develop NFTs for 76er fans and allow them to pay for tickets using cryptocurrency.
24% of sports fans have shown an interest in NFTs. The global cryptocurrency, blockchain, and NFT sports sponsorship investments are set to grow by 778% by 2026. The sports and crypto partnerships will only grow from strength to strength because athletes and competitive sports are a fantastic way to connect with people.
For sports brands, setting up NFTs or other tokenisation projects are giving them ways to welcome the digital age but still maintain their legacies. The partnerships between blockchain organisations and sports brands will not just be helpful to the two but will create new touchpoints for the crypto customer’s journey and enable community and network building among sports fans. This isn’t just about advertising space and taking advantage of the huge crowds professional sports pull, but also about extending tangible benefits to the masses.
There are questions on the sustainability of crypto deals, but cryptocurrency trading volumes speak for themselves. These sponsorship deals stretch over years because the technology is solid and their earning potential is extraordinary as compared to other assets. Blockchain technologies have cut through institutional inertia and challenged norms at every turn, and still managed to come out on top. We can expect the same as they find better ways to market themselves, sports today, perhaps coming closer home next.