Professional sports leagues have become more accepting of cryptocurrency and opened their doors to sponsorship opportunities. One deal signed earlier this year is now being called into question.
What Happened: In February 2022, Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals signed a $40 million, five-year deal with Terra (CRYPTO: LUNA).
Under the terms of the deal, the Nationals feature advertising for Terra throughout its stadium and have a premium seating club called Terra Club. Things have taken a dramatic turn, as Terra’s native token LUNA crashed by over 94% in the past 24 hours.
To make matters worse, the Nationals launched a video called “Crypto 101” to its more than 797,000 followers on Twitter Inc (NYSE: NYSE:TWTR) sponsored by Terra.
The tweet said, “You have questions. We’ve got answers.”
The video comes as the stablecoin TerraUSD (CRYPTO: UST) is falling this week to new lows. The video is part of a planned five-part series of cryptocurrency education videos, that could not have been released at the worst time for the team and the cryptocurrency.
Related Link: Janet Yellen Reacts To Terra (LUNA) And UST Stablecoin Fiasco
Why It’s Important: The deal announced in February was one of the largest cryptocurrency deals signed by an MLB team and the first-ever DAO sports partnership, according to Sports Pro Media.
The partnership is managed by the Terra Community Trust, which is managed by the Terra Community Pool, a DAO of LUNA token holders.
“We are excited to partner with Terra to name our most exclusive club and explore bringing powerful new fan experience to National Park, including the use of UST cryptocurrency to make purchases,” Nationals owner Mark D. Lerner said at the time of the deal.
Stablecoins are typically connected to the price of another cryptocurrency or the U.S. Dollar.
At the time of the deal, the Nationals said that the team could begin accepting cryptocurrency payments for the 2023 MLB season by using TerraUSD as a payment method.
Price Action: TerraUSD is down 25% to $0.6896 on Wednesday. The stablecoin has traded between $0.2998 to $0.9208 over the last 24 hours.
Terra is down 95% to $1.57 on Wednesday and has traded between $0.8384 and $28.41 over the last 24 hours.
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