FTX strikes deal to become official long-term brand partner of MLB

Leading cryptocurrency exchange FTX has announced a new long-term, global partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB). The partnership means FTX will be the official cryptocurrency exchange brand for MLB. 

The long-term partnership was established to increase the brand awareness of FTX and bring continued innovation for MLB. FTX will also have group player rights, which allows them to use highlights of players in “content creation” and promotional materials.

The deal makes FTX.US, the US branch of FTX’s global trading platform, will be the MLB’s first-ever umpire uniform patch partner. Starting with the MLB All-Star Game on July 13th, an FTX.US logo patch will be displayed on all umpire uniforms for future regular season and playoff games.

The partnership also provides FTX with global marketing rights associated with MLB marks, logos and special events. Fans will see applicable FTX brand promotion around nationally televised MLB games and across all MLB-affiliated media.

FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried said: “It’s an honor for FTX to be the first cryptocurrency exchange to be associated with the history and tradition of America’s national pastime. FTX.COM and FTX.US are excited to enter this first-of-its-kind partnership with Major League Baseball.” 

“At FTX, we strive each day to make a positive global impact, and there is no better partner for us to achieve this goal with than MLB and its international fan base. We look forward to announcing further details of our long term partnership throughout the remainder of this year.”

MLB chief revenue officer, Noah Garden, also stated: “This is an incredibly exciting announcement for everyone in Major League Baseball as we partner with a global leader in the early stages of their unbelievable growth. Our fans have been early adopters in using new technologies to engage with our game. We cannot wait to start collaborating with Sam and the entire FTX team.”

The partnership further outlines FTX’s mammoth efforts to increase its brand awareness and recognition in the USA. In March, FTX announced a naming rights deal for the home arena of NBA team Miami Heat. The 19-year deal, worth $135m, sees the 19,000 arena renamed as the “FTX Arena” alongside FTX becoming the official cryptocurrency exchange and brand partner of Miami Heat.

FTX also announced in June that it signed a record-breaking $210m naming rights deal with leading esports organisation TSM. The multi-year deal applies to all competitive TSM rosters, renaming them to “TSM FTX”. The deal also sees TSM purchasing $1 million worth of FTX’s native token FTT and distributing it amongst players.

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