Sports Franchises & Contracts and Cryptocurrency Adoption
For this week, I will go over the recent news regarding the adoption of cryptocurrency and the role within major sports individuals and programs. My father, Joe, has been sending me articles regarding Trevor Lawrence and Sean Culkin and the acceptance of payment with their NFL contacts through cryptocurrency.
---Disclaimer: I am not giving investment advice, I am only making you aware of the recent news regarding cryptocurrency so you can better understand the coin, technology, and the overall effect cryptocurrencies are currently having in the world we live in.---
If you all are fans of the NCAA or NFL you probably know Trevor Lawrence. He is an outstanding athlete that was the Quarterback for the Clemson Tigers. Trevor is projected to be the number one overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft class. This is huge for the Jacksonville Jaguars because they have had superb defense players, but lacked a reliable offensive leader (sorry not sorry Blake Bortles). Trevor is making deals as an individual left and right before his draft date. One of those deals being with the exchange platform Blockfolio.
Yes, you heard that correctly, Trevor has signed a deal in which his bonus within his salary contract will be converted into cryptocurrency for the 2021 season. This news reached the surface on April 26th, 2021. As of now, Trevor has contracts with Adidas, Gatorade, and now Blockfolio. This is relatively new water for the NFL and sports scene as a whole with an actual contact being established within cryptocurrency earnings.
The second, athlete I would like to name is Sean Culkin. He is a member of the Kansas City Chiefs and he is following Russell Okung's actions (Carolina Panthers Offensive Lineman). Sean has agreed to send his entire 2021 salary into the industry ($920,000). I'm pretty confident the amount will be processed through Bitcoin. That gives Sean around 17 Bitcoins in his financial profile.
I threw out Russell's name in the above paragraph because he transferred half of his 13 Million dollar salary ($7.5 Million) into Bitcoin. This news is not as new as the previous two. Russell did this in December of last year when the price of Bitcoin was around $25,000. That gave Russell around 300 Bitcoins. To date, Russell has increased the value of his contract to $19,125,000. His Bitcoin profitability is 120% This can be calculated by finding (New Price - Old Price)/Old Price. This formula is understanding percentage change.
Contract profitability Example: ($19,125,000-$13,000,000)/$13,000,000= .47 which is 47% increase.
Bitcoin profitability Example: ($55,000 - $25,000)/$25,000 = 1.2 which is 120% increase.
To put that into perspective with the current price of Bitcoin today, Russell has accumulated $11,625,000 (almost his entire salary of 2020). That is a $4,125,000 increase upon his $7,500,000 Bitcoin investment. Congrats on your earnings Russell and thank you for becoming an early adopter! Russell has paved a pathway to increase contract revenue by investing in cryptocurrency and broadening his investment portfolio.
All the names listed above are individuals leaping out of their comfort zones and investing in blockchain technology. Let us jump the topic from individuals and go into an organization adopting cryptocurrency.
In the NBA, the interest in cryptocurrency payments has caught Vivek Ranadive, the owner of the Sacramento Kings. Vivek has given the players and employees of his organization the option to place Bitcoin as a payment method to his players and staff. This news makes history. The Sacramento Kings is the first major sports franchise to offer this form of payment. In my opinion, if I were a player or employee for the Kings, I would do what Russell did and transfer a percentage of my salary into Bitcoin.
The Dallas Mavericks have seen the potential of cryptocurrency in the industry and their owner, Mark Cuban, is accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment for merchandise or ticket sales. If you are vetted into cryptocurrency and the industry as a whole, Mark Cuban is a familiar name.
The Dallas Mavericks has been an organization that has been accepting payments from BitPay transfers for tickets and merchandise since 2019, but now they are opening up payments with the notorious Dogecoin. The payment options in BitPay are Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and now, Dogecoin.
Changing sports now, the Oakland A's have followed suit with the Dallas Mavericks and are accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for ticket sales. Oakland is the first MLB team to accept cryptocurrency payments and after researching the surge the technology has in these major sporting franchises I know they will not be the last.
I do not want to continue listing each sporting industry and its adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, but the list continues to grow. Formula 1 racing has a partnership worth $10 Million with Crypto.com and Aston Martin Cognizant. The NHL also has a contract with Crypto.com with the Montreal Canadiens. Lastly, major football (soccer) programs are creating with very own cryptocurrency tokens within their fanbase. The programs hopping into this trend are Manchester City, Barcelona FC, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), and Juventus. Cristian Renaldo receives 770 JUV tokens for each goal he scores for Juventus. In total, his JUV earnings are around $11,600. Keep it up Renaldo!
The cryptocurrency market is exploding in the sports industry with individual names such as Trevor Lawrence and Cristian Renaldo having cryptocurrency interests and investments. Names of major sporting franchises continue to grow as well. I know the Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks, Oakland A's, Aston Martin Cognizant, Manchester City and Juventus will not be the only franchises allowing for cryptocurrency adoption.
This my friend, is just the beginning.
Until next time,
-Seth Hinkle
Articles used for research:
Beer, Tommy. “Owner Of NBA's Kings To Offer To Pay Players In Bitcoin.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 7 Apr. 2021, www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2021/04/06/owner-of-nbas-kings-to-offer-to-pay-players-in-bitcoin/?sh=43d9977f123f.
Brito, Christopher. “Carolina Panthers' Russell Okung Claims to Be First NFL Player ‘Paid in Bitcoin.’” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 30 Dec. 2020, www.cbsnews.com/news/russell-okung-panthers-nfl-salary-bitcoin/.
Buhler, John. Trevor Lawrence Gets into the Crypto Game with Blockfolio Endorsement, 26 Apr. 2021, www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/trevor-lawrence-gets-into-the-crypto-game-with-blockfolio-endorsement/ar-BB1g4soB.
Duggan, Wayne. “Oakland A's First MLB Team To Sell Tickets For Bitcoin.” Benzinga, 1 Apr. 2021, www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/21/04/20451218/oakland-as-first-mlb-team-to-sell-tickets-for-bitcoin.
Idol, Coin. “Cryptocurrency and Football: Another Giant Club Jumps to the Fan Token Bandwagon.” CoinIdolcom RSS, CoinIdol, 24 Mar. 2021, coinidol.com/football-fan-token/.
James, Ryan, et al. “Crypto.com Continue Sporting Sponsorships As Deal with NHL Team Announced.” BeInCrypto, 17 Mar. 2021, beincrypto.com/crypto-com-continue-sporting-sponsorships-as-deal-with-nhl-team-announced/.
“Mavs to Accept Dogecoin Cryptocurrency for Tickets and Merch.” The Official Home of the Dallas Mavericks, 4 Mar. 2021, www.mavs.com/dogecoin/.
Ogundare, Ibukun. “Cristiano Ronaldo Receives 770 JUV Tokens as Crypto Reward for Each Career Goal.” Coinspeaker, Coinspeaker, 22 Mar. 2021, www.coinspeaker.com/cristiano-ronaldo-770-juv-tokens/.
Team, Community. “Crypto.com Partners with Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team.” Crypto.com, Crypto.com | Official Blog, 2 Mar. 2021, blog.crypto.com/crypto-com-partners-with-aston-martin-cognizant-formula-one-team/#:~:text=Aston%20Martin%20Cognizant%20Formula%20One%E2%84%A2%20Team%20has%20signed,the%20Crypto.com%20Exchange%20and%20the%20Crypto.com%20DeFi%20Wallet.
For Trevor Lawrence picture:
Blasi, Weston. “Trevor Lawrence, Expected to Be the No. 1 Pick in the NFL Draft, Signs Endorsement Deal with Crypto App Blockfolio.” MarketWatch, MarketWatch, 26 Apr. 2021, www.marketwatch.com/story/trevor-lawrence-expected-to-be-the-no-1-pick-in-the-nfl-draft-signs-endorsement-deal-with-crypto-app-blockfolio-11619457969?mod=hp_minor_pos19.