At the beginning of 2021, it seemed like a crypto company was collaborating with a sports team or athlete every week. The crypto market has stagnated over the last few years, but those partnerships remain, but they do not receive as much attention as they did in the past.
I asked people from FTX, Ava Labs, and Algorand whether these alliances were paying off in a meaningful way.TechCrunch quoted Avi Dabir, vice president of business development at FTX, as saying: "Sports audiences tend to overlap with crypto." FTX partners with trusted brands, teams, and athletes to reach large audiences.
It was FTX that was among the first crypto companies to pursue partnerships in the sports industry. A collaboration with sports entities was discussed in January 2021 because it wanted to improve the value and awareness of its brand, Dabir said.It was announced last year that FTX signed a 19-year, $135 million deal with the Miami Heat to rename its home court to FTX Arena.
As well as being the official crypto exchange sponsor of Major League Baseball, the company has partnered with individual athletes such as Tom Brady and Steph Curry."I am really confident that it paid off," Dabir said. There are some things that we look at that are measurable and some that are not. The obvious measurement is how many people sign up or download the FTX app, but there are other aspects that are more difficult to quantify.