Top flight premier league football team Manchester United has chosen blockchain platform Tezos for a £20 million shirt sponsorship deal.
The multi-year partnership will see Tezos branding displayed across the club’s range of men’s and women’s kits, beginning with its 12 February match against Southampton.
As well as kit branding, the deal will see new fan experiences built on Tezos as the company becomes Old Trafford’s official blockchain partner.
Launched in 2018, Tezos is an open-source blockchain that aims to address the major barriers facing blockchain adoption today. Its native coin, XTZ, has the 42nd largest market cap of any cryptocurrency at the time of publication
Describing itself as “designed to evolve”, Tezos sees its security and in-built upgradeability as key strengths that will help it to remain a state-of-the-art scalable blockchain.
The network’s proof-of-stake mechanism also makes it less energy intensive and environmentally impactful than major blockchain’s like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
United’s kit had remained blank thus far into the season whilst the club searched for the right partnership following eight years with insurance giant AON’s branding.
Victoria Timpson, Manchester United’s CEO of alliances and partnerships, said: “This partnership aligns us with one of the most advanced, reliable and sustainable blockchains in an area of technology which promises to truly revolutionise the way that everyone, including the Club and our fans, can interact.
“We are especially pleased to be partnering with one of the most eco-friendly blockchains, using technology that is energy-efficient, limits carbon emissions and lowers costs, consistent with the Club’s wider efforts to promote environmental sustainability.
Edward Adlard, head of adoption and business development at Tezos, said: “Tezos will enable Manchester United to use blockchain and Web3 to transform fan, player, team, and partner engagement.
“The decision by the world’s greatest football club to select Tezos as its blockchain of choice is further validation that thoughtful design paired with strong security, low gas fees, and community-led innovation are the essential factors driving the next wave of adoption in the new digital revolution.”
With the deal, Manchester United becomes the third of this season’s Premier League teams to feature blockchain branding on its kit, after the Wolverhampton Wanderers and Norwich City.
To date, the largest deal between a football club and the blockchain industry came last year with DigitalBits £73 million deal with Italian team Inter Milan.
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