The Seminoles – a Florida state softball team – have entered a partnership with FTX, a new and popular cryptocurrency exchange. Several members of the team are now allowing the exchange to use their names, images, and likenesses for ads and other promotional campaigns and getting paid in crypto.
FTX Just Keeps Getting Bigger
FTX is only about three years old, but the company is already one of the biggest and most powerful digital currency trading platforms in the world. Sam Bankman-Fried – the main executive behind FTX – has a net worth of several billion dollars, and the company has recently issued a U.S. division known as FTX.US to ensure customers in America can take advantage of its tools and services.
In addition to its partnership with the Seminoles, the company has also garnered naming rights to the Miami Heat basketball team arena and the University of California’s football stadium. Both are called the FTX Arena and the FTX Field, respectively. The company has also sought to make an impact in women’s sports and partnered with the UCLA women’s basketball team and the FSU softball teams for deals similar with the one it holds with the Seminoles.
Kaley Mudge – an FSU outfielder – explained in an interview:
FTX originally reached out to me and I just kind of helped set up a few Zoom meetings so we could learn more about what cryptocurrency was and what they would expect of us in the deal. We’re not allowed to do any team deals, but they offered each one of us individual contracts for whoever was interested. Most of the team is in on the deal…They’ve been very helpful. It’s been a really fun deal.
Terms of the Deals
For every ad or promotion that a team member takes part in, they are paid entirely in digital currency units. They are also required – as part of their contracts with FTX – to engage in a certain number of social media posts relating to the company each month. Team members say they enjoy being part of such campaigns, with Mudge mentioning:
Doing it with the team, we’re allowed to make team TikToks or post together as a team, and that can count for each one of our posts. It’s been a lot of fun coming up with new ideas to help promote the company. [The players] were excited because for most people, it was their first NIL deal. It’s kind of fun when you have your teammates along with you creating content and reaping the benefits of being able to use your social media… Whether they are a D-I level player or D-II, D-III or NAIA players, giving freshmen or sophomores in high school a better idea of what they should look for. That’s been really fun because I really feel like I’m growing the game with that one.
