On Dec. 26, 2014, two college-level football teams from the NCAA will square off in the “Bitcoin Bowl.”
Bitcoin enthusiasts can thank BitPay, a payment processing company for the popular cyptocurrency, which paid to attach the word “Bitcoin” to one of college football’s 39 bowl games. The game’s official title is the “Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl.”
BitPay is proud to sponsor the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl on December 26th! #bitcoin @bitcoinbowl pic.twitter.com/tkrXqyp6NY
— BitPay (@BitPay) June 18, 2014
The naming arrangement is part of a four-year deal that BitPay struck with ESPN Events, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Internet reacted to the Bitcoin Bowl news with a predictable burst of excitement. The term “Bitcoin Bowl” became a globally trending topic on Twitter, and within an hour of the news, the Wikipedia page for the St. Petersburg Bowl was amended to reflect that Bitcoin has replaced Beef O’Brady’s as the sponsor for the game.
This isn’t the first time a cryptocurrency has sponsored a major sporting event. Users of a Bitcoin alternative called Dogecoin, which styles itself after a popular Internet meme featuring a Shiba Inu with a quizzical look on its face, pooled together enough money to sponsor NASCAR driver Josh Wise earlier this year.
“@LittleShibe: @josh_wise the #dogecoin pic is finished if u want :) pic.twitter.com/fpp69VKdzD” So funny! Your talented!
— Josh Wise (@Josh_Wise) May 6, 2014
The payout is $500,000 to the university that wins the Bitcoin Bowl. This raises an obvious question: Can the winning team opt for payment in Bitcoin?
“Yes, the team can and it’s up to the team/University,” BitPay’s Jan Jahosky told the Daily Dot in an email.
There you have it.
Photo via the St. Petersburg Bitcoin Bowl