NBA Sponsor Revenue Hits Record $1.64 Billion With Crypto Influx

Cryptocurrency companies have helped fuel the NBA’s sponsorship revenue to a record $1.6 billion in the 2021-22 season, according to a report from IEG, a sports consultancy IEG, and its Sponsorship Intelligence Database. Five crypto companies including Crypto.com, Webull, Coinbase, FTX, and Socios were responsible for 92% of the spending, according to IEG. This includes naming rights deals such as Staples Center rebranding to Crypto.com Arena for $700 million, 20 years, and FTX Arena for $135 million, 19 years replacing the American Airlines Arena. Similarly, the Brooklyn Nets landed Webull as its jersey sponsor in an agreement worth $30 million annually. Crypto partnerships are now the second most lucrative sponsorship category for the NBA, only behind the technology category. Among the NBA’s crypto deals this season was a league agreement with crypto trading platform Coinbase which was reported to be worth $192 million for over four years. “The cryptocurrency category’s sponsorship sending spree is like nothing we have ever seen before,” said Peter Laatz, IEG’s global managing director. The whole crypto deal itself has been up 13% from the $1.4 billion in the 2020-21 season. In the 2018-19 season, the National Basketball Association raked in $1.2 billion in sponsorship money. “The NBA has always been test-and-learn thinkers. They have a younger audience [than the NFL], a more diverse audience, and a more global audience. If ...