LA’s Staples Center, home to the Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Sparks, and many Grammy Awards ceremonies, will receive a shiny new name on Christmas: Crypto.com Arena. The rights went for more than $700 million in one of the biggest naming deals in sports history.
While it’s not exactly shocking that, in 2021, a stadium will be named after a crypto company instead of one that sells thumbtacks, the move is symbolic of crypto’s breathtaking blitz into the world of sports.
In fact, crypto is the fastest-growing sponsorship category in sports, executives say. You can now find crypto companies on TV ads during games, adorning players’ jerseys, slapped on basketball courts, and more. You know what, let’s take a quick tour:
- Stadium names: Even before Crypto.com struck its LA arena deal, the crypto exchange FTX inked a $135 million agreement to take over the naming rights for Miami’s American Airlines Arena. And SoFi, a fintech company that offers crypto investing, has lent its name to Los Angeles’s new football stadium. Doge Square Garden when?
- Jerseys: Two NBA teams—the Sixers and Trailblazers—have a patch on their jerseys advertising crypto companies. Crypto.com also signed a deal with UFC for real estate on athletes’ fighting apparel, including hoodies, shorts, and bra tops.
- Athlete influencers: Tom Brady (an FTX investor), Steph Curry, and top NFL draft pick Trevor Lawrence have all linked up with crypto companies in sponsorship deals.
Dilly dilly is old news
Crypto is crashing a sports marketing party that’s long been dominated by industries like insurance, cars, and beer.
That’s because crypto and sports have more chemistry than the 2013 San Antonio Spurs. Sports fans are about twice as likely as sports goys to say they’re familiar with cryptocurrencies, per a Morning Consult poll.
- Plus, the crossover between intense sports fans and the crypto world is even more solid. Two in three “avid” sports fans and 72% of sports bettors said they’re familiar with crypto.
Reading between the lines: People who love sports are also more likely to speculate in financial markets. This ties into the popular theory that fans, when faced with no sports to watch or wager on during the early days of the pandemic, helped drive a surge in retail trading last spring.
Crypto exchanges, which are racing against one another to acquire customers, see riches in tapping the sports fan base. Crypto.com will fork over more than $1 billion on sports marketing this year alone.
Looking ahead...expect the upcoming Super Bowl to be a crypto ad with a side of football. FTX already bought a commercial slot, and experts predict many other crypto-related companies will advertise during the Big Game.