Sports enthusiasts who look to their favorite players as role models also think twice before following their monetary advice.
The bankruptcy of FTX and the arrest of its founder and former CEO raise new questions about the role prominent athletes such as Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Naomi Osaka and others have played in giving legitimacy to the largely unregulated crypto landscape, while reframing the verbal exchange about how blind loyalty to favorite players or groups can be costly for the average fan.
But now that threat is increasingly being taken through investors who can’t lose, and the wealth disparity between celebrities and their enthusiasts creates a moral dilemma: They deserve sports stars, groups, or leagues to promote products that can cause monetary damage to their enthusiasts. ? Or do they deserve enthusiasts to take on the duty of their own threatening behavior, no matter who encourages it?
“In hindsight, it was a reckless industry deal that brought Curry and Brady together with bad company,” Mark Pritchard, a Central Washington professor who has studied the intersection of ethics and ethics, said in an email to The Associated Press. the sport. I don’t know how much due diligence went into the decision, however he recalls a quote from Warren Buffett: “Be afraid when others cling and cling when others are afraid. “
The marriage between cryptocurrencies and sports was formed a few years ago and has since become more powerful, despite all the turmoil affecting the industry. A study by sponsorship organization IEG, for example, found that FTX and other cryptocurrency companies spent $130 million on sponsorship in the NBA alone in the 2021-22 season; Last season, the sum was less than $2 million.
FTX itself had many ties to the game before its eventual collapse: The company paid an undisclosed amount to patch MLB umpires’ uniforms, $135 million for the naming rights to the arena where the Miami Heat plays, and another $10 million for Curry’s basketball. team, the Golden State Warriors, for running classified ads in their arena and the Warriors organization.
While those and other deals collapsed when FTX filed for bankruptcy, there are still many more. They come with naming rights to the Lakers’ home, which was once known as Staples Center but is now known as Crypto. com Arena, at an announced charge of $700 million over 20 years. There are cryptocurrency offerings in cricket, football and Formula 1.
Separately, dozens of athletes have endorsed cryptocurrencies and, in doing so, have led some of their enthusiasts to stick to the lawsuit, and others to file lawsuits against Curry, Brady and other prominent figures for their celebrity prestige to publicize the failure of the FTX business. model.
Ben Salus, a Philadelphia sports fan who lost cash to cryptocurrency, said he was uncomfortably surprised by the sudden accumulation of cryptocurrency-related signs around his favorite teams.
“It’s a very strange transition, especially since I don’t know if the world was in a position for the importance of cryptocurrencies,” Salus said. “You have these wonderful personalities that they or their teams know something about, but little.
The debate has become even more complex over the past five years, with the intersection between cryptography, digitized art presented in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), legalized sports betting and online gambling, as well as ever-expanding virtual gaming. Metaverse truth, all increasingly popular among major factions of stars and sports fans.
“It’s much more connected than people think,” said Ryan Nicklin, who studies the role of cryptocurrencies in sports as part of his PR business. because when you spend on one of those Metaverse games, you’re necessarily betting, since you don’t know if the price of that asset you’ve bought will go up or down.
Crypto’s entry into the mainstream was not driven by sports, but as it became a more popular product, sports leagues and teams and their athletes, who never hesitated to try to take advantage of the latest trends, entered the scene.
“A lot of mentions are similar to emotional attachment,” said Brandon Brown, who teaches sports and business at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport. sports celebrity because of an emotional bond that comes with that partnership. “
A key moment came in 2020 when some players, including Carolina Panthers Pro Bowl lineman Russell Okung, announced they would convert all or part of their multimillion-dollar salaries into cryptocurrency.
“Many other people are buying Bitcoin to make cash,” Okung tweeted shortly after the announcement. “I bought it to lose money. ” Soon after, Bitcoin. com proudly claimed that increases in Bitcoin’s value had necessarily doubled the $6. 5 million portion of Okung’s salary that was paid in crypto.
More big names followed. Actors Matt Damon and Larry David were among the Hollywood guys. The mayors of New York and Miami caused a stir when they, too, said they would take their salaries in crypto.
Aaron Rodgers, Shaquille O’Neal, Beckham Jr. and Trevor Lawrence were among a large organization of elite athletes who also weighed in. One ad showed Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brady and his then-wife, Gisele Bündchen, calling their friends to communicate about cryptocurrencies. and jokingly asking them, “Are you in it?”
The relationship between cryptocurrencies and gaming is also sparking a debate about how athletes deserve to use the platform they wouldn’t otherwise have without games. Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling, not to mention the racial tensions exposed in the United States through the 2020 homicide. of George Floyd, has disappointed the old cliché of “shut up and play” and presented many athletes with an opportunity to use the game to send a message.
Curry is among those who haven’t been afraid to delve into some of society’s toughest issues, speaking after Floyd’s killing and contributing to the Players’ Tribune, where athletes blog about their unfiltered reviews through the mainstream media.
Now, Curry is back in the headlines as one of FTX’s many paid backers. But aside from being named in the demand for elegance action and being ridiculed on some social media sites that are heavily involved in crypto conversations, there has been no primary backlash. opposed to Curry for his investments and sponsorships, and there may never be.
“When the coin explodes, will other people have a bad coin symbol, or will other people have a bad Brady or Steph Curry symbol?””I would venture to say that it is very likely that other people have such a strong connection with their sports personalities that they will cling to such a sports personality and blame the other party, which in this case is FTX, or the coin. “
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AP business writer Ken Sweet contributed to this report.