BitPay to sponsor NCAA college football bowl game

Bitcoin’s mainstream profile is likely to make a major leap forward this December when the NCAA’s St. Petersburg Bowl launches with a new sponsor. Atlanta-based bitcoin payment processor BitPay has purchased the naming rights to the game, which will now be known as the “Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl.” The 2014 game will be broadcast on ESPN, ensuring that bitcoin will be mentioned many times in the build up to the game. BitPay will hold the naming rights through 2016.

In the official blog post about the sponsorship, BitPay explained that they opted to use the bitcoin name in hopes of bringing greater attention to bitcoin as a whole, rather than just promoting their company. The company also hopes that the game will be unofficially referred to as the “Bitcoin Bowl” in coming seasons. “This will be a fantastic opportunity to raise bitcoin awareness to millions of new users. Our goal is to make it the largest and most exciting bitcoin event ever produced.

Speaking to CoinDesk, BitPay executive chairman Tony Gallippi explained said that the St. Petersburg Bowl was a good match, noting: “College football fans and the bitcoin community represent a similar target demographic – tech-savvy men between the ages of 18 and 40 [years old].”

This year’s “Bitcoin Bowl” takes place on December 26th at Tropicana Field (home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays). Tickets to the event start at $40.