Professional athletes and clubs going gaga over cryptocurrencies

Highlights

• Many professional athletes and sports clubs have found a unique way not only to drive revenue but also to engage fans at the same time
• MLB, NFL, Formula One, Football are few sports who have ventured into cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies have been revolutionising the sports industry for quite some time now. Today, many professional athletes and sports clubs have found a unique way not only to drive revenue but also to engage fans at the same time through Crypto NFTs (non-fungible tokens), which is getting as much traction as music and art.

Professional athletes have joined the crypto bandwagon, with many big names entering into the business. The latest one to catch the crypto bug is Paris St. Germain's newest signee Lionel Messi. The former Barcelona star, earlier this week, inked a two-year contract with the French giants for an annual salary of $41 million plus bonuses. The Qatari-owned club further stated that cryptocurrency $PSG Fan Tokens are going to be part of Messi’s welcome package.

The Crypto industry has become the new trend for the sports industry, with major sports players or clubs like the NFL, Formula One, NBA, Football clubs all promoting or paying salaries of the stars in the form of Bitcoins. 

Let us have a look at the sports professionals who are actively involved in cryptocurrencies. 

Russell Okung 

Russell Okung was one of the early professional athletes to adopt cryptocurrency. The Carolina Panthers Offensive Tackle had famously tweeted in 2019 that he wants to be paid in cryptocurrency. By 2020, Okung made headlines as the first NFL player to convert his $13mn salary to bitcoin through Zap – a popular crypto fan token. Despite the blip in the Bitcoin prices in May 2021, Okung continued to be an ardent supporter of cryptocurrencies.

Trevor Lawrence 

Trevor Lawrence, in April 2021, like Okung, invested his signing bonus in cryptocurrencies with a global cryptocurrency app called Blackfolio. Lawrence's portfolio includes investments in major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Besides, he has also invested a few in lesser-known Solana. The Jacksonville Jaguars' players signing bonus was projected to be somewhere near $22,630,055. 

Floyd Mayweather 

Another megastar made headlines, Floyd Mayweather Jr. when he released his NFT collection in May 2021. The digital art piece titled Legacy was released on Rarible marketplace, a collection of Mayweather's life and career, including animations and artwork. Mayweather NFT announcement came after he was fined by the SEC over ICO promotion. Mayweather, however, settled the issue by paying a fine of over $600,000.  

Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson, who seems to be on the verge of launching his own NFT, recently sparked a debate over Bitcoin and Ethereum. The boxing legend asked his Twitter followers to help him choose between the two cryptocurrencies. It is expected that Tyson will launch his own set of collectables later this month. Tyson feels that cryptocurrencies are the future, and he has tied up with 1ofone to help him with the NFT community. 

James Rodrigues 

The former Manchester United player made his intentions clear when he launched his token called the JR10. Tying up with SelfSell, the Real Madrid star aims to connect with the fans in a more meaningful manner by building his portfolio. 

Football clubs and F1 are too keen on cryptos

Sports professionals are not the only ones who are actively seeking cryptocurrency investment. In June 2021, Formula One partnered with Crypto.com in a deal worth as much as $30mn a year. Ben Pincus, director of commercial partnerships at Formula One, believed that it presents an excellent opportunity to make up for the losses that the sports industry has incurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Similarly, Italian football giants Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus, Spain's FC Barcelona, England's Arsenal and Manchester City are some of the football clubs that have partnered with Socios, allowing them to issue their fan tokens that can be traded.

Conclusion

Today, many of the sports industry professionals have realised that cryptocurrencies are the future. They feel they can remain connected with their fans through this, and at the same time it has also opened up another avenue for them to gain profit. It is a matter of time that more and more sports and sport stars join the bandwagon, and it becomes an established future mode of payment for sports professionals.