Southampton FC Sign Deal With Option Of Being Paid In Bitcoin
Premier League club Southampton FC have extended their sponsorship deal with Coingaming, which includes the option of being paid in Bitcoin for certain performance-based bonuses.
The deal is a three-year extension with crypto company Coingaming Group y, who have partnered the Saints since taking over at the last minute before the start of the 2020-21 season.
Coingaming Group own sportsbet.io, which is displayed on the front of Southampton’s shirt. The sports betting platform facilitates gambling in a variety of sports to be paid in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Coingaming To Southampton’s Rescue
Coingaming only took over the main sponsor of Southampton before the start of last season in a last-minute deal after the Saints deal with a Chinese sports company fell through.
LD Sports, which was supposed to be a Chinese sports content, marketing and entertainment platform, had been with Southampton for just one season, and the company’s owner acquired an 80% stake in Southampton.
It was at the time Southampton’s biggest sponsorship deal, but the deal started to raise some red flags last year.
LD Sports was supposed to be a brand-new sports content, marketing and entertainment platform, but it wasn’t up and running, it had no English website and the Chinese website went through some questionable channels.
The deal eventually fell through just before the start of the season and Coingaming came in at the last minute with a one-year deal.
Sportsbook.io To Remain As Main Sponsor For the Saints
Coingaming and Sportsbet.io as the main sponsor has been such a success for both club and Coingaming, however, both parties have decided to take further steps and extend the deal and more interestingly the bonus options.
As part of the new agreement, Sportsbet.io will remain as the Southampton’s main shirt sponsor, and the Premier League club has the option of being paid in Bitcoin at the end of each season.
According to the club’s announcement, ‘the deal is the biggest sponsorship agreement in the club’s history,’ which will allow ‘the club the opportunity to take advantage of the new, high-growth currency if it feels it will bring significant future benefits.’
Southampton FC Chief Commercial Officer, David Thomas said,
‘The team at Sportsbet.io have built a successful business by challenging convention and disrupting the market, but in a responsible way, and their approach to our partnership with them has been no different.’
‘In a short timeframe they’ve proven to be innovative, forward thinking and extremely supportive of the club, our fans and the wider community, and we’ve welcomed the opportunity to develop and promote safe gambling messages together. As such they have become valued partners and we look forward to the next chapter together.’
Coingaming CEO Maarja Pärt said the partnership had already exceeded expectations, and the betting company was ‘inspired by the passion of the club and its fans,’ which made it ‘an easy decision for us to extend our partnership with the Saints for another three years.’
The Sporting World Quickly Accepting Bitcoin
The news of Premier League club Southampton FC extending the deal with crypto-based sports gambling platform Sportsbet.io comes on the back of news from the US sporting world.
Last week, news was leaked that NBA team Sacramento Kings would be offering their staff to be paid in Bitcoin.
Although there has been no official announcement, the news was leaked by the franchise’s chairman Vivek Ranadivé.
In baseball, Oakland A’s recently announced it was selling its luxury suites for 1 bitcoin. The official price is $64,000 for the six-person suite, so anyone paying with Bitcoin right now is getting a discount.
In NFL, Carolina Panthers star Russell Okung started the trend of being paid in Bitcoin after a two-year case ended with his franchise and the NFL allowing half of his salary to be paid in Bitcoin.
NFL, MLB, NBA, Premier League, it’s just the beginning. We see other Bitcoin-related sponsors throughout the sporting world, and it’s just a matter of time before every club and professional sport star is offered to be paid in Bitcoin.
