The volatile but lucrative cryptocurrency boom has generated huge fortunes virtually overnight, flooding sports and entertainment with new funding in aggressive brand-building efforts.
But the latest twist involves Bitcoin (BTC-USD) investor and podcaster Peter McCormack, who is choosing a different approach. He bought a home football club (or what is called football in the UK) to raise money to build a team at a power plant.
Featuring the features of the Apple TV + breakout series “Ted Lasso,” McCormack has become the new chairman of Bedford FC. He is now starting to take his club to the Premier League, the most competitive circuit of British football.
McCormack was born and raised in Bedford and told Yahoo Finance. It’s a childhood dream and will eventually help build pride in your hometown and turn your team into a competitor.
“Bedford is a region that doesn’t really see big growth, except for those who can afford to come back from London and buy a big house. I asked Yahoo Finance,” What can I do? ” explained.
“I have a bitcoin community of these crazy 100 million bitcoin users around the world and I’m driving the project. We can be successful in town with a soccer team,” he said. Added.
But Bedford FC says, “It’s not a crypto club. It’s not about getting people to buy crypto. [non-fungible tokens] Or one of its nonsense. ”
“What we do is a football club that runs as a professional business,” he added.
There is no “pot flash”
Last year, a fat-filled company with profits from the cryptocurrency’s rapid growth cycle faced a new problem: rapid growth was not translated into name recognition.
To solve that problem, many have poured over $ 1 billion into advertising — and cryptocurrency exchanges have been the most aggressive. Gemini commissioned Spike Lee’s commercial, and Crypto.com told Matt Damon in a widespread panning that “luck is in favor of the brave.”
But the most important crypto campaigns are focused on sports, and another sector is flooded with new money generated by betting.
Enter the “Ted Lasso” analogy. The show features a British soccer team competing in the open league. There, the plot revolves around a moody American coach hired by a new owner to turn around a miserable franchise. Based on performance, the best and worst teams are promoted (or demoted) in the league.
The Bedford Football Club is located in the 10th part of England. This means that you need to promote your club nine times to play in the Premier League.
McCormack’s strategy, familiar with this system, depends on leveraging the global community of Bitcoin enthusiasts and promoting demand from Bitcoin companies.
He is not the only one. The Washington Post first reported that WAGMI United, a group of prominent US crypto investors, recently offered to buy the Premier League team Bradford City AFC.
But the current Chairman of Bradford Refused the offerAfter reports that fans are resisting the possibility of new ownership, according to Coinmarket Cap. McCormack was more fortunate.
“Fortunately for me, there are some things that have converged in a few months. I live here. [Bedford] Throughout my life … I understand British football. I love soccer. I always go to games, “said McCormack.
Podcaster spent years building his own business from advertising deals with crypto companies for his show. From the level of interest in the product, and at the pace he sells sponsorship, the club’s first year income “may be comparable to a small League One club,” the entrepreneur said.
According to the club’s website, it is already sponsored by three Bitcoin mining companies (Compass Mining, Hat 8, Luxor).
But crypto is the infamous whip saw. McCormack added that his team, renamed Real Bedford FC, is less susceptible to short-term fluctuations in Bitcoin prices.
“I don’t want people to see this as a weird crypto project like a fleeting idea,” he told Yahoo Finance. “It’s not a crypto project, it’s a business and football project. We just operate on the Bitcoin standard.”
David Hollerith describes Yahoo Finance’s cryptocurrency.Follow him @dshollers..
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