One of the biggest issues that cryptocurrency companies face is the difficulty of reaching new audiences. Crypto becomes a lot more useful the more people invest in it, which makes adding new customers essential. Lately, however, many crypto companies have found a solution: marketing to sports fans.
Over 112 million Americans watched Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals, which featured multiple commercials for cryptocurrency websites, featuring celebrities like Larry David, Matt Damon and Tom Brady. One of the most interesting Super Bowl commercials was simply black screen with a floating QR code on it that linked to Coinbase.
Football is not the only sport where crypto companies are making in-roads. Major League Baseball umpires recently reached a deal with the FTX exchange to have a patch with their logo placed on every umpire’s uniform. FTX also signed a deal with the league itself to put advertisements inside MLB ballparks. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) signed a $175 million deal to advertise Crypto.com on all fighters’ clothing inside the octagon. Formula 1 Racing signed a deal with the same company for $100 million.
Basketball fans have noticed a major change over the past few years as well: The Los Angeles Lakers’ home court, formerly known as The Staples Center, is now referred to as The Crypto.com Arena, after a 20 year/$700 million deal was struck last year. The Miami Heat also sold their stadium’s naming rights to the FTX crypto exchange in a 19 year/$135 million agreement.
Crypto’s in-roads with sports fans aren’t just limited to the major North American sports, either. The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) recently announced that they reached a deal with the crypto platform Voyager Digital, which includes advertising money being split among all players into separate crypto accounts and education on cryptocurrency fundamentals for every player. This is an important step as it is also an in-road with women, who (according to a recent survey) were less than half as likely as men to be familiar with or have invested in cryptocurrencies.
These partnerships are not just limited to leagues, either. Many athletes have picked up personal sponsorships from crypto platforms, including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ tight end Rob Gronkowski, quarterback Tom Brady, Jacksonville Jaguars’ quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Golden State Warriors’ guard Steph Curry, among others. Individual teams have also reached similar deals, including the Portland Trail Blazers’ deal with StormX and Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami CF’s agreement with the XBTO exchange.
In a recent survey, over 24% of respondents who identified as sports fans stated that they owned one or more cryptocurrencies, over twice the number of non-sports fans. Sports Fans were also twice as likely to be familiar with crypto as their non-watching counterparts. In light of these survey results and the success of these advertising deals, it’s very likely that more agreements between sports organizations, teams and players and crypto platforms will be coming soon.
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