What do you get when you mix the most popular sport in North America with the most popular up and coming currency in the world? We might not have a solidified answer just yet but Bitcoin has been making its introduction into the NFL and it is already starting to leave its mark. From players starting to cash in their salaries exclusively in Bitcoin, to online platforms where football fans bet on NFL games using this crypto and other uses, Bitcoin is starting to make its presence felt more and more in the world of professional football.
But in all reality, is there a clear future in the blooming relationship between the NFL and Bitcoin usage? Here we breakdown two ways in which the NFL and Bitcoin are flourishing together.
NFL Players Are Getting Behind The Bitcoin Hype
One of the principal ways in which Bitcoin has made it into the NFL which is also one of the ways in which said cryptocurrency will surely make the biggest immediate impact in the league and its day to day functioning is with players started to take up the idea of receiving their payments, be it salaries, endorsements or any other remuneration with Bitcoin instead of regular money. At first it was former Seahawks and Panthers OT Russell Okung who was the first player to play advocate for being paid his contract wages in Bitcoin, something that at first glance the league frowned upon and denied but ended up budging and accepting. While the reception to the idea has been lukewarm at best, that hasn’t stopped other players from wanting to go down that road.
One of the most renowned cases was when new Jacksonville Jaguars rookie QB and first pick in this year’s NFL Draft Trevor Lawrence decided to convert all of his signing bonus, a whopping $24.1 million to cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin being the main crypto in his portfolio. This made him the first true all-star NFL player to endorse the idea of Bitcoin usage in the league as something to follow and pursue. The other superstar player who has made Bitcoin related waves is Giants RB Saquon Barkley who decided that he will be receiving all of the money from his endorsement deals in Bitcoin from now on. Barkley, who makes about $10 million in endorsement deals per year, will now be collecting all of this through his crypto based portfolio which he has with the crypto based app Strike.
All of this is opening the Bitcoin world more and more for NFL athletes and other personnel all looking to find the best way to invest and produce of their winnings to not have any economic struggles down the line.
Teams Are Allowing Fans To Use Bitcoin More and More
One of the main reasons that Bitcoin has become one of the most popular and sought after new forms of currency in the world is because of the commodities it offers its users when using them. Bitcoin is not a currency that needs to be used exclusively for certain activities. The idea behind Bitcoin just like with other cryptos is for it to reach a place in the world where it can be viewed as a regular day to day use currency, but with a higher upside than regular paper or plastic money. The NFL has seen into this trend and has started to allow its fans, who are some of the most loyal in the world of sports to start using Bitcoin and other cryptos in their day to day dealings with anything and every football related.
From buying tickets for games and events, to buying team memorabilia and even purchasing Bitcoin based fan tokens, which allow fans to engage in a more in depth and personal relationship with the team, allowing them to even have a say in some of the teams’ decisions and others, the NFL has seen the true value of allowing fans who use Bitcoin to use it within the pro football universe and it has paid off with great results.
Given the fact that Bitcoin has sort of become the currency of newer generations, those who are all about tech and living their lives through digital scopes and with the NFL always looking to be able to bring in younger fanbases to their side of the sports world, introducing the use of Bitcoin has become a perfect gateway to be able to enter and solidify their place with these new generations of football fans. As time goes by and with the facilities Bitcoin offers for usage, it shouldn’t be a surprise if it ends up becoming the most popular means of currency used by fans for NFL related purchases.