Crypto companies are reversing course on sports sponsorships — and European soccer’s governing body is just the latest victim.
Crypto.com backed out of a $100.6 million sponsorship deal for the UEFA Champions League this summer, according to SportBusiness.
A drop of over $2 trillion in value in the crypto markets from November to June, plus another major hit last week, has caused a course correction among crypto exchanges.
The canceled transactions represent a reversal on what had been the biggest emerging trend in sports deals: Crypto companies were spending $2.4 billion on sports sponsorships.
The category rocketed to the NBA’s second-largest sponsorship category in the 2021-22 season, after being 43rd the previous year.
Crypto.com and FTX each made a major splash with an arena naming rights deal, with the former landing the home of the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers, Kings, and Sparks in a 20-year, $700 million deal, and FTX snaring the Miami Heat’s arena for 19 years for $135 million.
