The Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl: the first Bitcoin sponsored college sports event

Bitcoin made a splash in the NCAA college football scene in 2014. BitPay, a merchant bitcoin payments processor, announced its sponsorship of the St. Petersburg Bowl, an annual college postseason football game sanctioned by the NCAA.
 

The game, which took place at Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, was rebranded as the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl, thanks to BitPay’s sponsorship.
 

BitPay’s executive chairman, Tony Gallippi, expressed that the sponsorship was aimed at moving Bitcoin into the mainstream, leveraging the college football platform to reach a tech-savvy demographic. The bowl game, which aired on ESPN, reached nearly 100 million American households, providing unprecedented exposure for Bitcoin.
 

Furthermore, the event itself became Bitcoin-friendly, with tickets for the 2014 Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl being sold for Bitcoin. The sponsorship lasted through 2016, and during this period, it raised awareness about Bitcoin among a wider, mainstream audience.