NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
The Bitcoin Bowl is no more after BitPay/ ESPN cancel sponsorship deal
Alas we hardly knew thee, with news this week that the Bitcoin Bowl is no longer after a single outing back in December 2014.
The sponsorship deal with BitPay Inc. was supposed to be for three years and saw the St Petersberg Bowl known simply as “The Bitcoin Bowl.”
The official line is that parties to the deal, BitPay and ESPN, mutually agreed to a rebrand the event to the St. Petersburg Bowl; the line sounds like spin versus any reflection of reality, although without an official statement the truth may never be known.
At the time the deal was announced, BitPay Executive Chairman Tony Gallippi said:
“Our goal is to continue to move bitcoin into the mainstream and sponsoring the St. Petersburg Bowl offers us that opportunity. College football fans and the bitcoin community represent a similar target demographic – tech-savvy men between the ages of 18 and 40 [years old].”
The initial, and as it turns out only Bitcoin Bowl was a ratings success, with over 3.3 million viewers watching, and likewise being exposed to Bitcoin. Three Bitcoin related ads were shown during the game and is believed to have increased acceptance of Bitcoin among small to medium enterprises.
Not the end of the world
While the sponsorship deal was strongly welcomed by the Bitcoin community, its cancelation is not the end of the world either; the additional exposure of the cryptocurrency while it lasted was a positive, but life will still go on.
The real question though is why it was actually canceled: is BitPay experiencing financial issues perhaps? It’s pure speculation, and with $32.5 million in venture capital it would be surprising if is was, but from such a strong embrace of the sponsorship, and with strong figures to back it up, to the seeming cancelation of it, today, does seem surprising.
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