Sports entered crypto in 2021 at a level that very few other brand categories can even come close. We cover sports engagement in crypto and blockchain technologies each weekend game piece, so as we see 2022 kick into full gear, we’ll take a look at everything we have covered in 2021.
We will do this through engagement in the sport of crypto through the lens of three major buckets: team and league partnerships, brand engagement, and athlete support and advocates.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest stories in sports and blockchain technology to hit the newswire in 2021.
A Deep Dive into the Sports Engagement of 2021
Sports team and league participation
One of the biggest crypto deals ever in the game is the recent Coinbase and NBA partnership, a big deal that follows the NBA’s experience of ‘toes in the sand’ courtesy of their partnership with Dapper Labs with NFTs Happened. The deal seemed to inspire other major leagues, sending the message that real revenue could be at play here; The WNBA, NFL and La Liga followed the NBA’s lead, all pairing up with Dapper Labs for their respective NFT marketplaces. The NFL is expected to launch completely in beta in the coming weeks. However, the NFL has pumped the brakes extensively for team-specific deals in crypto.
NFTs infiltrated the game at essentially every level, and this was no exception for teams, as different teams in different teams and leagues got their hands dirty in the NFT in 2021; NBA teams arguably lead the charge here, with the Hornets, Jazz, Warriors, Bucks, Cavs, and many others exploring their own team-focused NFT projects.
In esports, crypto exchange FTX made a splash in the emerging space with a fresh sponsorship, teaming up with esports.org TSM to rebrand the organization as TSM. While the move didn’t come without a few hurdles, it was arguably one of the biggest noise-makers in esports org sponsorships in 2021. Coinbase was another aggressive name in esports this past year, tying up with the likes of
In European football, Crypto.com was particularly aggressive, signing a league-wide deal with Serie A. However, team engagement was also abundant, with many examples such as AS Roma’s 3-year deal with Zytara Labs worth $42 million. When it comes to NFT engagements in European football, Sorare took a leading position, challenged but largely untouched by fellow NFT competitor Dapper Labs.
Socios and its sub-brand Chiliz, meanwhile, dominated the fan token space, and made a concerted effort and penetration into the sports market across the US, from South American football club partnerships to UFC partnerships and NBA team deals.
brand affiliation
Adidas and Nike eventually stepped up to the plate, with the former arguably the more aggressive of the two; Adi teamed up with BAYC and The Sandbox, and launched his own ‘Metaverse Wearables’. Nike also jumped into wearables, acquiring major OpenC NFT project RTFKT to mint Nike wearables.
While endemic sports brands such as Nike and Adidas seized the opportunity in 2021, not all brands and companies that seemed like a ‘natural fit’ were able to find an easy path. The prime example is in gaming, where big players like Ubisoft saw sharp reactions, and other market movers like EA Sports chose to be more cautious.
Meanwhile, gambling platform DraftKings took on a lot of crypto-related activity, partnering with the likes of Tom Brady’s NFT platform, Autograph.io, and tying up with blockchain Polygon to address scalability. Tech fanatics dip their toes in the sand, as CEO Michael Rubin teamed up with crypto powerhouse investors to create an athletics-focused NFT marketplace, Candy Digital.
Athlete Support and Advocate
One of the sport’s biggest stars, Messi jumped into the crypto limelight this year when he moved from longtime club Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain. Messi agreed to take an undisclosed portion of his PSG salary in $PSG fan tokens. Messi launched its own NFT release, titled ‘Mesiverse’, through the NFT marketplace Ethernity.
Outspoken advocates of some of the biggest leagues in American sports also came out, including NFL quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who began 2021 with a major partnership with Blockfolio, Odell Beckham Jr., Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, Aaron Rodgers, and more. , even more. In the NBA, top draft pick and now-Detroit Pistons Cade Cunningham struck a deal with BlockFi, and established NBA veteran Steph Curry signed with FTX. Curry also bought a bored ape, showing a great deal of interest in the space.
Leading the charge, however, was Tom Brady, who was teaming up with FTX and building the aforementioned Autograph.io and issuing their own NFTs featuring some of the biggest athletes in various sports.
Other growing crypto exchanges also found athlete partners, such as Voyager Digital’s match with Rob Gronkowski, or Celsius’ deal with Spencer Dinwiddie.
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There's no "clear-cut" winner in sports and crypto this year when it comes to exchanges - but FTX, Crypto.com, and arguably even Coinbase were certainly some of the most aggressive players in sport in 2021. | Source: FTT-USD on TradingView.com
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To begin 2021, FTX acquired the longstanding naming rights for the former American Airlines Arena in Miami. As the years passed, the Staples Center collapsed, and the Crypto.com Arena came to life to close in 2021. Sports NFTs grew massively, with global consulting firm McKinsey & Company teaming up with Sportico to release a deep-dive NFT report. Said “Sports NFTs are not going away.”
Meanwhile, the emergence of state by state name, image and likeness (NIL) rights in the US opened the door for collegiate athletes to leverage their own names for the first time in history, and crypto and blockchain applications made their way into the limelight. Made it as well. However, the lack of comprehensive regulation means that we are still very early when it comes to collegiate athlete opportunities in crypto.
Some interesting altcoins also received unique deals, such as Tezos pairing with Red Bull’s Formula 1 Racing team, and Algorand’s deals with the virtual Le Mans and Drone Racing League.
While it was often highlighted who made the top of newswires in 2021, there were also some tough challenges – European football clubs Barcelona and Manchester City had to stop inbound crypto partners due to the controversy.
2022 is going to bring a lot more to it – we at Bitcoinist are hoping to cover it all for you right here.
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Featured image from Pexels, Charts from TradingView.com
The writer of this content is not associated or affiliated with any of the parties mentioned in this article. This is not financial advice.