It was an action-packed week full of slam dunks, touchdowns, and the like. Sports engagement with crypto is absolutely booming. Voyager makes it’s way to the Sports Slice mentions, FTX is taking a big step in sports advertising, and esports NFTs are en route.
Each week, we break out the ‘Sports Slice,’ a quick-hitting recap of the past week’s action of sport and crypto crossovers. Let’s jump in:
The Sports Slice
Dallas Mavericks Team Up With Voyager
Voyager is a crypto exchange that doesn’t get too much mention in our weekly Slice. We can change that up this week, as Mark Cuban-owned Dallas Mavericks sealed a five-year partnership with Voyager this past week. The exchange will be entitled naming rights behind the Mavs Gaming Hub. Additionally, Voyager and the Mavs are unrolling a $100 BTC promotion for new users of Voyager’s mobile app.
A Big Shot In Sports: $100K Half-Court Heave, Paid In Crypto
We all love a good in-game promotion at our favorite sports events. Sure, a t-shirt is cool, or maybe a coupon for some free food is something we can’t be mad at. How about $100K in crypto? One lucky fan secured the bag this past week thanks to that Voyager and Dallas Mavs partnership.
The fan hit a half-court shot to secure the funds, very Luka Doncic-esque if we say so ourselves.
#MFFL, Isaiah Stone, just won the LARGEST cash prize ever hit for an on-court promotion on the Dallas Mavericks court‼️
He went home with $100k worth of cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) courtesy of our newest partner, @investvoyager 💰💰 pic.twitter.com/ssW4Mz70sy
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) October 29, 2021
FTX With A Super-Sized Super Bowl Ad
FTX certainly hasn’t shied away from sports engagement this year. The growing exchange continues to go all-in this past week with a massive move. FTX is shelling out big bucks for a Super Bowl advertisement in next February’s playoffs. Last year’s Super Bowl audience was north of 90M, and upcoming ad spots are reportedly yielding over $6M each. Football’s biggest game of the year is known for it’s entertaining and clever commercials. Let’s see what FTX brings to the table.
FTX also made headlines this week in securing a multiyear deal with retired Red Sox legend David Ortiz. Ortiz joins the ranks of Tom Brady and Steph Curry as a fellow FTX brand ambassador.
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FTX has been growing it's sports engagement, and made another big splash with a pair of announcements this past week. | Source: FTT-USD on TradingView.com
Top Shot Ups The Ante On Player Engagement
Top Shot is dialing up athlete-engagement this week. Sacramento Kings rookie Davion Mitchell has been a defensive beast early in the NBA season, putting the clamps on premier guards like Donovan Mitchell and Damian Lillard. There’s bright potential behind Mitchell and the Kings stacked roster of guards.
Davion will be the first NBA athlete to have fan engagement intertwined in their Top Shot moment. Top Shot fans will be able to vote for what moment should be Mitchell’s first. Fellow Kings players Ty Haliburton, Harrison Barnes, and De’Aaron Fox are crypto and NFT fans as well. Top Shot has also had a busy week this past week, with the release of their largest mint yet – over 200K minted of a new Dwayne Wade NFT.
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1454233531937263621?s=20
Chiliz With Another ‘First’ In Sports, This Time In Colombian Soccer
The first Colombian soccer club to engage in crypto is here, courtesy of Chiliz and Socios.com. What seems to be a weekly name in the ‘Sports Slice,’ Chiliz and Socios.com will be pairing up with Millionarios F.C. for a new $MFC fan token.
Chiliz and Socios.com continue to absolutely dominate the global sports fan token market.
ESL Gaming Will Offer Esports NFTs
The ESL Pro Tour is a major stage for CS:GO players. Now, ESL is partnering with Ethereum Layer 2 NFT solution ImmutableX to offer NFTs to esports fans. In July, ESL paired up with Coinbase – and given Coinbase’s recent investment into NFTs, don’t be surprised if there are more crossovers in this space moving forward.
ESPN Not Yet Ready For Crypto Advertising
Despite increasing engagement of crypto advertising in sports, ESPN is not quite ready to test the waters just yet. According to a report this week from Sports Business Journal, crypto brand advertising is currently pending internal review. Speculation is that parent company Disney is simply being cautious given it’s ESPN relationships with traditional financial advertisers that are in adjacent territory.
Outside of sports and ESPN, Disney at large isn’t showing too much hesitation on crypto; the company is celebrating Disney+ Day next month with a VeVe partnership that will unveil a variety of Disney characters as NFTs.
Don’t be surprised if the tides eventually turn for ESPN.
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Featured image from Pexels, Charts from TradingView.com