RCD Espanyol announced their partnership with SportyCo on 2nd February 2018
Recently Espanyol signed a sponsorship deal with SportyCo (https://www.rcdespanyol.com/en/news/sportyco-new-sponsor-of-rcd-espanyol/_n:6622/), becoming the second ‘major’ soccer team to establish a partnership with a cryptocurrency after Arsenal announced their partnership with CashBet (https://www.arsenal.com/news/club-welcomes-cashbet-coin-new-partner). Arguably the Arsenal deal is the more significant of the two, with the global recognition that they attract, but Espanyol upped the ante (and attention) with their recent victory over Real Madrid.
Arsenal announced their sponsorship deal with CashBet on 24th January 2018
Another cryptocurrency, Jetcoin, actually sponsored Serie A team Hellas Verona back in 2014, so they were way ahead. Unfortunately too far ahead for them I guess, as they don’t seem to be listed as a sponsor on Hellas Verona’s official site anymore, but fair play to them for being first to strike a deal.
There have already been individual tie ups with sports people in various fields, but these team deals definitely increase the mainstream exposure of cryptocurrency, and show a growing acceptance that crypto is here to stay. Whether the crypto companies involved actually go on to be big players in a few years time is another matter, but I think these will be the first of many deals made over the coming years. Sports teams, especially in soccer, do tend to gravitate towards deals with gambling sites, so the Arsenal deal should not come as a huge surprise.
https://searched.io/blockchain-f1-cryptocurrency-motorsport-concepts/
By next season, I reckon there could well be deals in all of Europe’s top soccer leagues (England, Spain, Germany, France & Italy), and other major international sports are sure to follow. F1 and golf would be a prime candidates for lucrative agreements to be struck, especially with core viewers matching the demographics of many cryptocurrency investors. I really think F1 is the biggest and best route, has huge global coverage and hits the mark in terms of the type of people who watch it. Either way, we will definitely see more sponsorship agreements hitting the headlines, at least until it isn’t news anymore and they’re just seen as commonplace deals. Watch this space.