NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers to wear crypto logo for next five years

Published at: July 2, 2021

The Portland Trail Blazers, an American professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball Association (NBA), is moving into the cryptocurrency industry with a new partnership.

The NBA announced Thursday that the Trail Blazers has landed the league’s first jersey patch sponsorship program with StormX, a blockchain company allowing users to earn crypto rewards by completing micro-tasks or shopping at global partner stores online.

Fresh, groundbreaking, revolutionary. We’re excited to announce we are joining forces with @stormxio, the first cryptocurrency jersey patch partner in the NBA! https://t.co/hAHDdMABDA pic.twitter.com/ZWpmp9k2wr

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) July 1, 2021

As part of the sponsorship deal, the Trail Blazers will reportedly feature the StormX logo on team jerseys for the next five years, beginning with the 2021-22 season. The parties did not disclose the size of the deal but said that they signed an “eight-figure contract” including in-arena branding. According to sponsorship experts, jersey patch deals average around $10 million per year.

In addition to the jersey patch, StormX and the Trail Blazers will also partner to launch their first nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, based on the Gameday Poster Series, a series featuring unique designs from local artists for Trail Blazers’ team. Issued in the form of digital collectibles representing the team’s posters, the Trail Blazers’ NFTs will be rolled out later in July, according to the announcement.

Related: Basketball star turned digital racehorse tycoon: Wilson Chandler on NFTs and the NBA

Trail Blazers president and CEO Chris McGowan said that StormX will help “educate and motivate Rip City around cryptocurrency and earning crypto cashback.” StormX was founded in Seattle by Calvin Hsieh and Portland-grown Trail Blazers fan Simon Yu with a mission to boost financial independence. The firm’s platform allows earning crypto cashback from more than 800 stores across over 170 countries via an internet browser extension.

“We’re honored to be the first crypto company to form a jersey sponsorship with not only a team of such high caliber, but also with a league of the same stature,” Yu said.

The NBA has been expanding its move into the crypto and blockchain industry recently. In mid-June, NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers entered a marketing partnership with major blockchain fan token providers, Chiliz and Socios.

Tags
Adoption
Blockchain
Bitcoin
Business
Cryptocurrencies
Sport
Mainstream
Partnerships
Advertisement
Related Posts
Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen take equity stake in FTX crypto exchange
Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen are the latest celebrities to reaffirm the growing adoption of the cryptocurrency industry. West Realm Shires Services, FTX Trading Limited and Blockfolio, three companies behind major global cryptocurrency exchange business FTX, announced Tuesday a long-term partnership with Brady and Bündchen. As part of the deal, the legendary football player and model will each take equity stakes in FTX Trading and will receive crypto. Brady will serve as an ambassador for FTX, while Bündchen will take on the role of FTX’s environmental and social initiatives advisor, working on initiatives to …
Adoption / June 29, 2021
LeBron James and Crypto.com team up for blockchain education initiative
In a press release published Friday, three-time NBA champion and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James will partner with digital currency exchange Crypto.com to support educational and workforce development opportunities focused on Web 3.0. Specifically, as told by local news outlet Akron Beacon Journal, the partnership will help 1,600 kids in LeBron James' hometown of Akron, Ohio about the technology behind cryptocurrencies and how it will benefit their career paths in the future. "Blockchain technology is revolutionizing our economy, sports and entertainment, the art world, and how we engage with one another. I want to ensure that communities like the …
Adoption / Jan. 28, 2022
Super Bowl 2022: Here’s the scoreboard of crypto ads
Super Bowl commercials have always been an intrinsic part of the annual National Football League (NFL) championship and for business, a fair sign of making it in the real world. This year, however, marked a new milestone for the crypto community as FTX, eToro, Crypto.com and Coinbase debuted crypto ads in Super Bowl 2022. With rising demand in crypto — recently fueled by nonfungible tokens (NFT), meme tokens and the Metaverse — Super Bowl crypto ads stole the limelight from traditional businesses on social media platforms like Twitter. Let’s gauge into the advertisements and echo the feelings expressed by the …
Adoption / Feb. 14, 2022
Financial future or false promises? Crypto firms go big on ads in 2022
Advertisements are in abundance everywhere we go — from billboards seen throughout road trips to commercials displayed every fifteen minutes or so during television shows. It’s also the case that most advertisements today display messages from major internet-based brands like Amazon, which was ranked as the largest advertiser in the United States in 2020. Telecommunication providers and payment giants like American Express have also been listed as some of the biggest advertisers in the United States. These companies typically spend billions of dollars per year on marketing messages aimed to inform, persuade and remind consumers about their products and services. …
Adoption / March 14, 2022
Global private bank LGT opens Bitcoin and Ether trading
LGT Group, a top family-owned private banking and asset management group, is moving into cryptocurrency by launching Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) investments at LGT Bank in Liechtenstein. Managing over $292 billion of assets, LGT Bank has debuted digital asset custody and trading services in cooperation with Swiss cryptocurrency bank Seba, according to a joint announcement released on Wednesday. “LGT Bank has been offering direct investments in Bitcoin and Ether since May. The private bank has entered into a partnership with Seba Bank, which will act as broker and custodian to provide this service,” Seba Bank’s chief marketing officer Sandra …
Adoption / May 4, 2022