Cryptocurrencies and sport: an alliance that redefines sponsorship

Sport, like any other sector, requires investment, economic resources and capital. In recent years, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have burst onto the sports scene, transforming not only how clubs finance themselves, but also how they engage with their fans, manage contracts and explore new sources of revenue.

These concepts have not ceased to generate doubts among people unfamiliar with these new ecosystems, however, as a result of the approval of the MiCA Regulation of the European Union since last January, Spain has begun to carry out an active supervision through the National Securities Market Commission with the aim of protecting holders and supervising providers, guaranteeing investors a certain degree of protection when investing in cryptoassets, which will undoubtedly have many positive implications, leading us to see this type of instruments more frequently.

Sport will undoubtedly be one of the sectors that will be impacted by this new scenario, without going any further in the 2024/25 season, 14 of the 20 Premier League clubs and 19 of the 20 LaLiga clubs had some type of sponsorship related to cryptocurrencies.

Beyond these data, we should ask ourselves if sport identifies the crypto ecosystem -based on blockchain- as an opportunity and how to take advantage of it. Undoubtedly, this ecosystem opens up a wide range of possibilities for sports that are already beginning to be seen in different countries through innovative revenue models.

Focusing on cryptoassets as financing mechanisms, we could cite as examples the possibility of obtaining funds for the construction of sports cities through tokenization, i.e. the possibility of obtaining a share in the future revenues of the project, thus allowing small investors to participate in large projects. Acquiring shares in future training rights in the sale of soccer players, this is the case of a company that already markets the training rights to which the training clubs are entitled when there is an international sale, which is undoubtedly very positive for the training clubs and for the small investor and / or fan who can participate in the profits. This has been the case of the player Tomás Conechny for whom Alavés paid 2.1 million euros to Racing de Avellaneda for 50% of his rights. In this operation, investors who had acquired shares through cryptoassets had dividends of 248%.

To these examples we could add the sale of VIP box usage rights, digital advertising, etc.

Cryptocurrency companies have found in sports a global showcase to promote their services, there is a clear growth trend, those clubs that adapt better to these digital environments and new funding mechanisms will undoubtedly be more competitive, not only by attracting sponsorships but by the desirability of reconfiguring and identifying new business models around this technology.

Explosive growth of crypto sponsorship

See projects a 778% increase in investment by crypto companies in sports sponsorship by 2026. This could represent as much as $5 billion in global deals, according to studies by Nielsen and analyst firms.

By the 2024-2025 season, 70% of Premier League clubs have sponsors related to cryptoassets or cryptocurrencies.

CRYPTO SPONSORSHIP IN LALIGA

95% of LaLiga clubs have had or have sponsors linked to the crypto ecosystem. In addition, LaLiga as an organization has a multi-million dollar agreement with Bitget, which acts as an official cryptocurrency partner in regions such as East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America

Perspectives

According to a report by B2Binpay, crypto sponsorship in soccer reached $565 million in the 2024/25 season, representing a 20% growth over the previous year.

The projected growth of crypto sponsorship in European soccer between 2020 and 2030, using an estimate based on compound growth would be as follows:

Conclusion

If this trend continues, crypto sponsorship in European soccer could triple between 2024 and 2030, exceeding $1.6 billion. This would make it one of the most dynamic sectors within sports marketing.