The global crypto market has been boosted with Crypto.com’s sponsorship deal worth a whooping AU$25 million with the Australian Football League (AFL). The deal covers AFL’s men’s and women’s competitions. Commentators have described this as one of the biggest sponsorship of any kind in Australian sport.
Crypto.com also sponsored the women’s AFL as it highlighted Australian women’s higher than average adoption of cryptocurrency by global standards. Karl Mohan, Crypto.com’s general manager Asia & Pacific, said their research showed that 53% of crypto investors were women. This motivated the platform to embrace AFLW into its deal. Mohan said it’s mainly that invest, but in the Australian market, there are more women investors and AFL has led the way in bringing gender diversity to the Australian sport. The Singapore-based company has also roped in Hollywood A-list actor Matt Damon as the face of its TV commercial campaign in Australia.
In recent months, Crypto.com has spent over AU$1.5 billion on a series of sports branding deals. This includes a USD700 million naming rights agreement of a Los Angeles baseball stadium – Staples Center to Crypto.com Arena. The crypto platform is in partnerships with other major sporting clients – Formula One, UFC and Paris St. Germain.
With the latest sponsorship deal, Crypto.com has become the official cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform for the AFL and AFLW. Kylie Rogers, the general manager for customers and commercials at AFL, said they identified cryptocurrency and blockchain as a potential new sponsorship source in 2021. And after months of negotiations, AFL finally sealed the deal with Crypto.com.
Gillon McLachlan, chief executive of AFL, said this partnership marks an exciting new chapter for Australian football. He acknowledged cryptocurrency and blockchain as a dynamic and emerging industry. McLachlan said AFL is at the forefront with Crypto.com of the industry’s growth in the country.
