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Cryptocurrency adoption has been progressing rapidly throughout the year, but there are always those who see it as bad development that should not be encouraged. The most recent example of this is the US National Football League (NFL), which reportedly decided to impose certain crypto-related restrictions on football teams.
According to The Athletic’s report, teams are no longer allowed to accept crypto sponsorships, advertisements, or NFT sales. The restriction will supposedly remain until the league can come up with a working strategy for sports digital trading cards and art, as the report put it.
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An anonymous NFL member familiar with the matter revealed the new guidelines, saying that clubs are not allowed to sell or otherwise allow ads for specific cryptos, ICOs, or other types of token sales within club-controlled media. The same goes for any other media category that relates to blockchain technology, digital assets, or blockchain companies, except as outlined in the policy.
The creation and sales of NFTs are completely ruled out for the time being. The move comes as a most recent trend that was previously noted among mainstream soccer teams, like Arsenal, Manchester United, but also the NBA.
There may be some exceptions
The NFL official also said that any discussions regarding crypto sponsorship deals will only be allowed if the advertising sponsorship rights are limited to promoting the company’s corporate brands. So far, the NFL did not respond to questions regarding the new policy, so the changes are currently neither confirmed nor denied.
However, given the amount of attention that the NFT market received from sports players, including even some of the massive sports stars such as Naomi Osaka, Lionel Messi, and others, it was likely only a matter of time before every other professional player followed in their footsteps.
Crypto partnerships, token sales, NFTs, and more, are becoming more and more popular and adopted within the sports industry, which some see as a problem, given the unregulated nature of the industry.