Why Coinbase and the WNBA are investing in the future together

May 19, 2022 Coinbase

coinbase

TL;DR: Coinbase is announcing its partnership and investment in the WNBA ecosystem.

Today, Coinbase is excited to announce our expanded investment within the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) ecosystem. In addition to the League, our new partners include the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (“WNBPA” — the union which represents all players), two team partners, the New York Liberty and Seattle Storm, and two of the league’s biggest stars, Sue Bird and Jewell Loyd.

Coinbase believes the cryptoeconomy will be built by talented and creative women who are rewriting the rules and welcoming the future — just like those in and around the WNBA. While the WNBA is on a journey to transform their league long-term, having announced the largest-ever capital raise for a women’s sports property in February of this year, Coinbase continues to work towards its mission to create more economic freedom in the world and bring the next 100 million users to the cryptoeconomy.

Coinbase has accelerated opportunities to introduce crypto to our new partners and WNBA fans. At this year’s Rookie Orientation, we ran a crash course covering crypto and NFTs for the top rookies invited to the Draft. Thanks to the WNBPA, all 144 WNBA players will be set up with Coinbase accounts and crypto funds to further familiarize themselves with the space. New York Liberty and Seattle Storm fans will get the chance to earn crypto through giveaways and experience web3 through IRL activations. Fans of Sue Bird and Jewell Loyd will also see them make their mark in crypto and NFTs in the same way they’ve done for the game of basketball.

Coinbase, through its proud partnerships with the WNBA and WNBPA, wants to enable more participation in the cryptoeconomy and web3, and engaging more women and our new partners will allow us to do just that.

Why Coinbase and the WNBA are investing in the future together was originally published in The Coinbase Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Pro sports leagues are no longer resisting NFTs: Dapper Labs

October 26, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Dapper Labs’ head of partnerships said pro sports leagues have opened to their arms to NFTs amid the sector's booming growth this year.

Dapper Labs, the firm behind NBA Top Shot, said that pro sports leagues are no longer resistant to exploring nonfungible tokens (NFTs) now that the sector is hot.

Speaking at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit on Oct. 25, Dapper Labs’ head of partnerships, Caty Tedman, said that the stance of professional sporting organisations suddenly shifted regarding NFTs amid the sector’s booming growth in early 2021, stating:

"The conversation has shifted dramatically, where I think there's a little bit of an understanding that there's something here. I meet very little resistance these days that NFTs are a thing."

Dapper emerged as a pioneer in officially-licensed sports NFTs when it launched NBA Top Shot in late 2020. The firm has since inked partnerships with other major sporting franchises including the National Football League (NFL), the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the Spanish soccer organization La Liga, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Speaking on Dapper’s initial discussions with the NBA, Tedman recounted that the organization expressed apprehension over the fact that NFTs had not yet been proven to work as a means for sports merchandising, stating:

"At that time, it was a lot of explanation and we spent a lot of time with lawyers and people in finance to talk about what it looks like to have secondary revenue.You don't have secondary revenue on merchandise [...] what does it look like to have ownership in perpetuity of assets for consumers.”

Tedman added that Dapper had been “lucky to start with the NBA" as the organization's Associate Vice President of Global Partnerships & Media, Adrienne O’Keeffe, was open to exploring NFTs.

According to data from CryptoSlam, NBA Top Shot NFTs have generated more than $32 million worth of secondary sales in October, with the figure representing a 58% increase compared to the month before.

Cointelegraph reported last week that daily trade volume for NBA Top Shot NFTs surged more than 440% after the project launched its retro “Run It Back 2005-06” packs on Oct. 15.

Despite the surging growth in October, trading volumes are still well below the heights seen in February, which saw a record of $224 million worth of secondary sales.

Coinbase Becomes Exclusive Cryptocurrency Platform for NBA, WNBA, USA Basketball

October 20, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Coinbase announces multiyear partnership with NBA and WNBA

October 19, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Basketball

The deal comes as the NBA prepares to start its 2021-2022 season, marking the association’s 75th anniversary.

Major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has inked a deal with the National Basketball Association giving the platform the opportunity to educate basketball fans on crypto.

In an Oct. 19 announcement, Coinbase said it would become the exclusive cryptocurrency platform partner of the National Basketball Association, or NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association, NBA G League, NBA 2K League and USA Basketball as part of a multiyear sponsorship deal. According to the NBA, Coinbase will create “unique content, innovations, activations and experiences” for basketball fans to learn about the crypto space, as well as be a partner of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup, the USA Basketball men’s and women’s national team exhibition tours, and the NBA G League Ignite.

Coinbase chief marketing officer Kate Rouch said the partnership would involve “interactive experiences to engage with the NBA and WNBA’s incredible community and athletes around the world.” The announcement comes as the NBA prepares to start its 2021-2022 season, marking the association’s 75th anniversary.

According to data from Statista, an average of 1.6 million people watched NBA regular season games across major networks during the 2019-2020 season. Coinbase said it would be featured during nationally televised NBA games.

Many crypto companies and platforms have formed partnerships with sports organizations across the globe as the space expands and seemingly becomes more profitable as a sponsor. Crypto derivatives exchange FTX announced it had become the official sponsor of Major League Baseball in June and previously struck a deal to name the Miami Heat’s home stadium the FTX Arena until 2040.

wnba