- Crypto.com has announced a partnership with National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) expansion team Angel City Football Club.
- The Angel City Football Club is based in Los Angeles and will begin play in Spring 2022.
- Last week, the NWSL announced a league level sponsorship deal with crypto brokerage Voyager Digital.
All of a sudden crypto sponsorships are everywhere in the sports world. Crypto.com is one of the companies most active in pursuing promotional opportunities in the crypto space and they’ve just announced a partnership deal in the largely untapped women’s professional soccer market. Crypto.com has announced that they’ll be a founding partner of the NWSL Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and serve as the team’s official cryptocurrency and NFT partner.
It was just a week ago that crypto brokerage Voyager Digital announced a league level partnership deal with the NWSL. Voyager becomes the league’s first ever cryptocurrency brokerage partner in an arrangement that will include an individual crypto account for every player in the NWSL. Now Crypto.com becomes the first direct sponsorship of a professional women’s sports team by a major cryptocurrency platform. In addition to getting a sponsorship with a team in a ‘crypto literate’ league, Crypto.com adds another presence in the Los Angeles area. This will supplement what is arguably the highest profile crypto sponsorship to date–the renaming of the iconic Staples Center as the Crypto.com Arena.
In the press release announcing the partnership, Crypto.com framed the sponsorship in terms of increased access and awareness of cryptocurrency and other leading edge financial technologies:
Following the recently-announced naming rights agreement for the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Crypto.com has teamed up with ACFC to increase access and awareness of cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and Web3 technologies among LA soccer fans, ACFC players, and across the broader ACFC organization. This is in an effort to foster financial education, independence, and financial empowerment. ACFC is mission-driven to create a different kind of football club that levels the playing field in women’s sports, mirroring Crypto.com’s mission to level the playing field financially through cryptocurrencies.
Additionally, Crypto.com emphasized their ties to Los Angeles which they refer to as the ‘Creative Capital of the World’:
Crypto.com continues to find unique and impactful ways to invest in the city of Los Angeles, the Creative Capital of the World. Joining forces with ACFC, one of the most forward-thinking professional sports teams in the world, is a natural fit as Crypto.com works to expand access to cryptocurrency across diverse communities globally. ACFC is leading the way in women’s sports, creating innovative partnership models and tapping into a diverse and dynamic ownership group that includes Alexis Ohanian, Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Jessica Chastain, Uzo Aduba, Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm, and more. The partnership will include a focus on community engagement, financial equity, and social impact initiatives.
The Angel City Football Club (ACFC) will be the 11th member of the NWSL and will begin play in Spring 2022. ACFC will play home games at the Banc of California Stadium in downtown Los Angeles. The team is already one of the highest profile in the NWSL due to their ‘A-List’ ownership group including founder Natalie Portman and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. In addition to their deal with the ACFC, Crypto.com has been very active on the sponsorship front. Among their partnerships are the NHL Montreal Canadiens, the NBA Philadelphia 76ers. the Aston Martin Formula 1 team and Italy’s Serie A soccer circuit.
Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com, had these comments about the partnership with ACFC:
“We are a community dedicated to building the future of the internet: Web3. Powered by cryptocurrency, Web3 will be more fair and equitable, owned by the builders, creators, and users. We’re thrilled to be joining ACFC as a founding partner, deepening our relationship with the City of Los Angeles while supporting a team that shares our values and is equally committed to helping people achieve financial independence and self-determination.”
Alexis Ohanian, Seven Seven Six Founder and ACFC Leading Founding Investor, emphasized her team’s strong focus on innovation:
“Since day one Angel City has committed to being a leader in women’s football by promoting innovation that propels the game forward. This thinking has driven our decision-making – from our community outreach efforts to our partnerships, down to the personnel we’ve hired – we continue to deliver on that promise daily. As an early adopter of crypto myself, today I’m proud that Angel City continues to lead the way as the first women’s professional sports team to partner directly with a major crypto platform. This partnership is a turning point for women’s sports and signifies the growing recognition of the power and influence they wield.”
ACFC Co-founder and President Julie Uhrman noted the speed with which cryptocurrency is changing the financial world and her team’s desire to help women benefit from them:
“Key to Angel City’s goal to drive equity for women is to empower them with the tools and resources to be financially independent. Given the speed with which Web3 and cryptocurrency is changing our world, we want to ensure that women are being brought along on the journey as investors and creators. Partnering with Crypto.com was a natural fit given their leadership in the space and mission to level the playing field with crypto. We are excited to work with them to educate our community and players on crypto and allow our players to use the power of NFTs to connect with and create a deeper relationship with their fans.”
You can be certain that there will be more team level NWSL sponsorship deals with cryptocurrency companies announced in the new year.
