Terra Locks In $38M Sponsorship Deal With Washington Nationals

Crypto organizations working with sports clubs have become a marketing trend of late, and the latest to jump on the bandwagon is Terra (LUNA), which recently announced a sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals — although MLB is now under a lockout.

Terra is a big decentralized autonomus organization, or DAO, and the community voted on the proposal for the blockchain to pay about $38.5 million for a five-year sponsorship agreement with the Nationals, which went live last week on Terra's governance platform. It could also be the first time a DAO community is exercising its rights in such a non-crypto and headline grabbing situation -- exactly as a DAO was intended to function.

The collaboration, announced Wednesday, would promote the Terra brand throughout the franchise, including its home arena and TV networks.

Apart from the novelty of a DAO voting on such a deal, the announcement marks a significant milestone for the blockchain industry. The deal is reminiscent of Crypto.com purchasing the naming rights to former Staples Center in Los Angeles, which resulted in a surge in the value of its native coin, CRO.

"We are excited to partner with Terra to name our most exclusive club and explore bringing powerful new fan experiences to Nationals Park, including the use of UST cryptocurrency to make purchases," Mark Lerner, managing principal owner of the Washington Nationals, wrote in a Medium post.

Meanwhile, Terra also took to Twitter to share their excitement about the new collaboration.

The Terra community pool will pay $37.5 million to the franchise to seal the transaction, with another $650,000 being paid to support the building and remodeling of the franchise's venue, along with re-design expenditures.

The franchise's most upscale club and lounge will be renamed from the Nationals Club to the Terra Club, and will be plastered with the latter's logo and messaging. The Terra logo will also appear on all television broadcasts from the franchise's venue.

Additionally, TerraUSD (UST), the DAO's algorithmic stablecoin introduced in September 2020, will be accepted for purchases around the ballpark from next season, the Nationals said in a statement.

"Terra will also be featured on in-stadium signage and will sponsor a five-part digital series that airs on Nationals social platforms. As part of the agreement, UST could be accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park as early as next season," the press release stated.

According to CoinMarketCap, TerraUSD is the 18th largest cryptocurrency with a market value of $11.26 billion. In comparison, Terra's original token Terra (LUNA) ranks ninth with a market capitalization of $22.96 billion.