Crypto brands power NBA sponsorship growth

The National Basketball Association (NBA), the sports league, saw a 12.5% lift in sponsorship revenue for its 2021/22 season, to $1.64 billion, due in large part to brands in the cryptocurrency sector.

Why it matters

Cryptocurrencies are not only disrupting the finance industry. Given the intense battle for consumer attention and expenditure in this space, marketing from crypto brands is increasingly making an impact on a variety of mainstream channels, including sponsorship.

An unprecedented sponsorship trend

• IEG, the sponsorship intelligence provider, reported that crypto brands invested $130 million on NBA sponsorship fees in 2021/22, up from less $2 million in the 2020/2021 season.
• Over 90% of that outlay was attributable to five players: Crypto.com, Webull, Coinbase, FTX and Socios.
• Prominent examples saw Crypto.com, an exchange platform, take naming rights for the stadium of the Los Angeles Lakers. FTX, another trading platform, did the same for the Miami Heat’s home arena.
• “The cryptocurrency category’s sponsorship sending spree is like nothing we have ever seen before, representing one-third of all new NBA sponsorship deals,” Peter Laatz, IEG’s global managing director, said.

Crypto takes on established categories

• Building further on this insight, he reported that crypto brands have leapt over several more established categories in terms of NBA sponsorship spending.
• “In one year, the category has rocketed up from 43rd to become the second highest-spending sponsorship sector in the NBA, right behind technology,” said Laatz.
• Following next in this list were banks, telecoms and sports apparel came next, with all the top categories spending over $100 million.

Sourced from Sports Pro Media