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How 2021 Became The Year Of Baseball’s First Bitcoin Team
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Aussie Baseball Team Perth Heat to Start Paying Players and Staff in Bitcoin
Perth Heat, a popular team in the Australian Baseball League (ABL), publicly entered the crypto markets after announcing on November 17 that it will pay players and staff in Bitcoin.
Heat revealed that it has partnered with the crypto payment firm OpenNode to accept and send Bitcoin payments powered by the Lightning Network.
Perth Heat CEO Steven Nelkowski commented about the development and stated: “This is the first time a sports club has decided to go all in on a bitcoin standard. We know the community views Heat as a model of success and hope that the adoption of the bitcoin standard will inspire others to adopt a monetary system that creates value demands.”
While Heat players and staff will be able to get paid in Bitcoin beginning this Friday, the club also plans to accept the cryptocurrency payments for ballpark concessions, merchandise, and sponsorships on game days.
Nelkovski disclosed that the Bitcoin payments were not mandatory, stating that all players and organizational staff have fully embraced the opportunity to be paid in the crypto and were informed how the scheme works.
He said that in case a player wants to opt-out of the crypto payment plan, they can still be paid in the traditional method, with their salary transferred to Australian dollars and sent to their bank accounts as with any other direct debit process. He mentioned that there is also the option to be paid partially in Bitcoin and traditional dollars.
“We are giving the players the freedom to decide what is best for their unique situation. The entire process is very similar to the traditional payments process with one added variable which is how much of their salary they would like to keep in bitcoin,” Nelkovski said.
Nelkovski said the deal did not need to be approved by Baseball Australia – the game’s national governing body – which has been supportive of the move.
The club has created a new position of Chief Bitcoin Officer, filled by Patrick O’Sullivan to facilitate the new operation and the transfer of “the corporate treasury” from dollars to cryptocurrency.
O’Sullivan also talked about the development and said: “This is not a one-off purchase to hedge against future uncertainties or inflationary pressures. The Perth Heat are embracing the reality that the future of money and corporate treasuries will live on the bitcoin blockchain.”
Heat is one of Australian baseball’s most successful clubs and has won four ABL championships since the league’s formation in 2010.
The 2021-22 ABL season, which was initially scheduled to begin this week, was last month cancelled for the second straight year because of the COVID-19 restrictions in Australia.
Sports Industry Has Big Plans for Crypto
Perth Heat has joined other professional sports clubs to fully embrace cryptocurrency for payment acceptance and payroll for staff and players.
The sports industry is one of the more flexible industries that are not too scared to try out something new. It did not throw itself into cryptocurrency but opened its doors to an alternative payment method.
Several US sport club owners have started paying their members in cryptocurrency. Many sports stars are known to have decided to exchange a portion or all of their salary to Bitcoin, but such payments were initiated by the players themselves, rather than the top managers.
As reported by Blockchain.News, European football giant Benfica started accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum payments in 2019. The announcement consequently allowed fans of the Portuguese Premiere Liga champions to pay for match tickets and club merchandise using cryptocurrency.
In March this year, the Dallas Mavericks – an NBA team – started accepting Dogecoin cryptocurrency as payment for tickets and merchandise.
These days, some of the world’s largest sports clubs, like FC Barcelona and Juventus have their own tokens, meant to be distributed and used by their fans. The fans can use the tokens for buying merchandise, winning rewards such as VIP seats, voting on some upcoming club-related decisions, and many more.
Image source: Shutterstock
Top Australian Baseball Club To Pay Players In Bitcoin
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly making appearances in the world of sports. The latest team to enter the cryptocurrency world is Australian Baseball League club Perth Heat. On Wednesday, the club announced that it integrated crypto payments into its operations. The Heat said they had partnered with OpenNode to accept and send Bitcoin payments powered by the Lightning Network.
Related Reading | Venezuelan Airport To Accept Payment In Bitcoin
The Baseball club is one of Australia’s most successful teams, having won four ABL championships since the league’s formation in 2010. It claims it is the first professional sports club in the world to fully embrace the digital currency.
Perth Heat Integrates Bitcoin Payment
The baseball club has rebranded itself to be called “the Bitcoin baseball team.”
As part of the partnership with OpenNode, Perth Heat is setting Bitcoin as the new standard for payments and payouts. Players and staff will get their pay in Bitcoin, although it is not mandatory. Players can still be paid in traditional fiat or partially in Bitcoin. However, the club’s CEO, Steven Nelkovski, said that all current employees of the club were on board with the scheme.
BTC trading at $59.55K | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
“By embracing the underlying values of the Bitcoin protocol, we believe that the organization can reach new levels of success both on and off the field and remind the world of the true value of sports. We know the community looks to the Perth Heat as a model of success and we hope our adoption of a Bitcoin Standard will inspire others to embrace a monetary system that demands value creation to thrive,” said Nelkovski.
As part of its Bitcoin adoption efforts, the club also plans to “Hodl Bitcoin on the club’s balance sheet.”
Patrick O’Sullivan, Perth Heat’s new Chief Bitcoin Officer, shed more light on the club’s latest strategic move. He said it is a way of securing its digital property rights on the world’s most secure monetary network.
“We believe the world has begun to recognize the power of sound money principles and are determined to lead from the front. This is not a one-off purchase to hedge against future uncertainties or inflationary pressures. The Perth Heat are embracing the reality that the future of money and corporate treasuries will live on the Bitcoin blockchain.”
The club will also accept Bitcoin payments for sponsorships, merchandise, and ballpark concessions on game days.
Crypto Regulation In Australia
Australia has made big crypto moves this year. It has one of the highest crypto adoption rates in the world. This could be due to the country’s aim to become crypto-friendly. In line with this, regulators are making laws to regulate cryptocurrencies in different sectors.
Last month, Australian senators wrote a report pushing for an overhaul of finance and tax regulations to make the country a global crypto hub.
Related Reading | Crypto Is Set To Dominate Australian Financial Industry In Less Than 10 Years
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) also recently gave the green light to a range of cryptocurrency-related ETFs. This approval could see Bitcoin and Ethereum-backed investment funds trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) soon.
Additionally, Commonwealth Bank announced its partnership with US-based crypto exchange Gemini and blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. It will become the first major Australian bank to offer crypto services to its customers, which it plans to launch in 2022.
Featured image by GettyImages, Chart from TradingView.com
FTX Bags Naming Rights Of Cal Memorial Stadium For $17.5M To Display Their Brand
Cal Memorial Stadium has sold its naming rights to FTX during its second vital branding move. This venture was put forward after the purchase of the Miami Heat Arena’s naming rights in March.
FTX is a Crypto derivative exchange that bought the Cal Memorial Stadium from California University. This move by FTX aims to introduce its brand to the stadium.
This derivatives exchange owned by Sam Bankman-Fried is exploring further in sports. That is why; they have made a 10 year deal of $17M just for the university’s stadium naming rights.
The stadium’s home team, the Cal Golden Bears, will now carry the new brand to create more crypto awareness. As stated by Bloomberg, from now onwards, anytime the home team will play their game this season, they will be wearing the latest FTX Field brand.
Related Reading | Total Cryptocurrency Market Cap Value Surges Across $1.9 Trillion Setting A New Record
Furthermore, the $17 million deal for the university’s naming rights is paid in cryptocurrency assets. This current deal is the latest inroad into sports sponsoring to create more awareness for crypto.
FTX U.S. Partnered Miami Heat Basketball squad
Last March, FTX.US, a North American sector of this same exchange, signed a naming rights contract with the Miami Heat Basketball squad. Due to this partnership, the stadium’s home team was rebranded to an FTX Arena.
The organization also becomes the formal crypto exchange of MLB {Major League Baseball}. This is a segment of the sponsorship contract which is anticipated to remain for about 5 years. In fact, all the Major League Baseball umpire is expected to wear the firms’ mark on their respective uniforms.
Countless FTX executives have time-honored ties as well with the Cal Golden Bears. For instance, Sina Nader, the COO (Chief Operating Officer), serves as a Golden Bears walk-on member during his undergraduate years.
Last June, Tom Brady, the quarterback seven-time champion of the Super Bowl, and Gisele Bündchen, his wife, became Crypto derivative exchange’s partners to encourage crypto adoption. Because of this deal, Bündchen and Brady collected FTX equity stakes, each thus receiving crypto in exchange.
Furthermore, according to the report from our source on the 20th of July, FTX breaks the funding record of crypto. They raised their funding to $900 million to take on an “exchange decacorn” position. This particular company is worth more than $10 billion.
Related Reading | Microsoft To Fight Piracy With Ethereum, Introduces Project Argus
This latest deal by FTX as the Major League Baseball official sponsor has prepared the way for a wider and acceptable awareness for digital assets.
According to the tweet on Wednesday by Sam Bankman-Fried, this five-year contract may evolve to include alliances.
Featured Image From Pixabay
Oakland Athletics Baseball Team Finally Sells Ticket for 1 BTC
Oakland Athletics (The A’s) have successfully sold a full-season suite ticket to Voyager Digital Ltd. for 1 BTC. The move makes The A’s the first Major League Baseball team in the world to handle bitcoin (BTC), according to a tweet on March 31, 2021.
The A’s Make History
Oakland Athletics (The A’s), an American professional Major League Baseball (MLB) club that has existed since 1901, has become the first MLB team to join the cryptocurrency bandwagon, as the club has successfully sold its coliseum suite ticket for the entire season for 1 bitcoin (BTC).
It will be recalled that The A’s announced on March 14, 2021, that its full-season coliseum suites can be purchased with 1 bitcoin until April 1, 2021. At the time, club president Dave Kaval made it clear that the offer is in commemoration of bitcoin’s $61k all-time-high.
“Full season regular price: $64,800. Cryptocurrency Price: 1 BTC. Until April 1, fans can purchase a full season six-person suite for one bitcoin, “ declared the team at the time.
Voyager Takes up the Offer
And just 24-hours before the official expiry of the juicy offer, Voyager Digital Ltd, (CSE: VYGR), a crypto-asset broker for both retail and institutional investors, has latched onto the offer, with bitcoin (BTC) trading at just $58,500 at the time.
While the A’s took a slight loss in the deal since the exact price of its coliseum suite for the entire season is over $68k, Kaval, has however, made it clear that the team believes in the long term potential of BTC, and as such, it will hodl the 1 BTC gotten from the deal.
“We’re gonna hold it. We’re believers in bitcoin and hopefully, it continues to go up and maybe we can find some big free agents with some of the proceeds,” he said.
Despite their super volatile nature, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly gaining adoption in the world of sports, the same way the nascent digital asset class is gradually making inroads into mainstream finance.
Notably, a good number of clubs in the NFL have since made cryptocurrencies a payment option for merchandise and in-stadium services, with players such as Rusell Okung, already getting paid in bitcoin.
At press time, the bitcoin (BTC) price is hovering around $58,810, with a market cap of $1.10 trillion, as seen on CoinMarketCap.
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MLB team will HODL Bitcoin received from suite sales, says president
Dave Kaval, president of Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics, says the ball club will be HODLing any Bitcoin that fans pay for luxury seats at the team ballpark in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, Kaval said no baseball fans had yet taken advantage of the opportunity to buy a full season, six-person suite for the home season for 1 Bitcoin (BTC) since the deal was first announced on March 15. Though the A’s club president said he was still hopeful “two or three” people will buy tickets for the ten suites available, he also clarified that any crypto received from purchases wouldn’t be converted into fiat right away.
“We’re gonna hold it,” said Kaval. “We’re believers in [Bitcoin] and hopefully it continues to go up and maybe we can find some big free agents with some of the proceeds.”
The BTC price dipped to $51,000 since the initial sales announcement, meaning crypto users who purchased the suite at just the right time could have saved more than $13,000 compared to the regular full season fiat price of $64,800. The price of the crypto asset has since returned to more than $57,000.
Kaval said part of the reason for the change to selling the tickets in crypto was the baseball club offering “something unique and different.” Though he said the A’s would not be accepting other tokens like Ether (ETH) or Dogecoin (DOGE) this week, there is the possibility of doing so in the future.
“We’re focused on just Bitcoin for now, but I think if it catches on, and we get interest, we are open.”
Bitcoin sales for the suites will still be accepted before April 1, when the Oakland A’s first game is scheduled against the Houston Astros. Though the status of the game may still be subject to change depending on COVID-19 cases in the state, at the time of publication, roughly 9,400 baseball fans are expected to be allowed at the A’s RingCentral Coliseum on Thursday — less than 20% of the 63,132 people when the venue is at full capacity.
Many Major League Baseball players have also become involved in the non-fungible token market. Last month, former MLB player-turned artist Micah Johnson sold $1 million worth of tokenized art in just one minute on Nifty Gateway.