Crypto companies invest $170 million in Premier League sponsorships

According to a Bloomberg report, football clubs in the English Premier League have secured a record $170 million in sponsorship deals from crypto companies for the 2024/25 season.

This increase comes at a time when league participants are facing stricter sponsorship restrictions on gambling companies, which have traditionally been their main source of revenue.

Crypto sponsorships on the rise

According to the report, several major clubs have already signed significant crypto contracts. For example, leading crypto exchange Kraken sponsors Tottenham Hotspur, Atlético Madrid from La Liga, as well as RB Leipzig from the German Bundesliga.

Meanwhile, in June 2023, current Premier League champion Manchester City extended its partnership with OKX for three years in a deal that will cost the platform $70 million.

Another crypto exchange, Crypto.com, is also heavily involved in football. The company, which owns the naming rights to the former Staples Center, where the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers play among others, announced in August that it will sponsor UEFA’s Champions League until 2027.

The growth of crypto sponsorship is not limited to the biggest names in the strongest leagues. Turkish Galatasaray recently signed a two-season deal with blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, worth about $4 million, to have its logo prominently displayed on the team’s sleeves.

Gambling out, crypto in

For PL clubs, these partnerships represent a significant shift in the sponsorship landscape, especially with a looming ban on gambling advertisements on the front of shirts by mid-2026. This is in addition to the ban on gambling advertisements during live matches from 2019.

During the 2023/24 season, eight teams had sponsors from gambling companies on the front of their jerseys, which earned them nearly $80 million annually.

However, according to Daniel McDonagh, a partner at the British law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, who was quoted in Bloomberg’s report, crypto companies are now stepping in to fill the vacuum created by restrictions on gambling sponsorships.

Some believe this move is part of efforts to clean up the image of the digital asset industry following the negative press that came with the collapse of several high-profile firms, including Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Voyager Digital, and FTX.