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Crypto sponsorships did not disappear from esports overnight. They surged during the 2021 bull market, then contracted as crypto markets fell and FTX collapsed. Broader sports sponsorship counts later rebounded, but they do not show how many crypto deals with esports teams are active today.
How the crypto sponsorship boom turned into a pullback
CoinGecko counted 33 new crypto sports sponsorship deals signed in 2021, including the reported $210 million FTX agreement with esports organization Team SoloMid (TSM). Its count fell to 25 new deals in 2022 and eight in 2023, before rising to 26 in 2024. These are sports-wide counts, not an esports-only tally, and they count deals signed in each year rather than every agreement still in force. CoinGecko’s retrospective, updated April 20, 2026, links the downturn to the 2022 market crash and FTX’s collapse.
The pattern suggests a retreat from the exuberant dealmaking of the boom, followed by a partial recovery across sports. The 2024 total remained below 2021’s. It does not establish that esports crypto sponsorships followed the same annual pattern, or how many such agreements exist now.
Why crypto firms and esports sponsors pulled back
The market crash made large marketing commitments harder to sustain
The downturn reduced the crypto sector’s capacity or appetite for expensive marketing agreements. That context helps explain why fewer new deals were signed, but it does not prove that falling token prices caused any particular esports contract to end.
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FTX’s collapse made a prominent sponsorship a liability
FTX’s failure brought a highly visible esports partnership into the fallout. The reported $210 million TSM agreement illustrates the scale of the boom, while the collapse showed the risk of building a team’s identity or revenue plan around a single sponsor. CoinGecko’s chronology and the Los Angeles Times’ December 2022 account of broader strain among esports investors and sponsors support a combined explanation: market stress and sponsor-specific failures both mattered.
That distinction is important. A market-wide slowdown is not evidence that every crypto sponsor withdrew, and the failure of one major company cannot explain every cancellation or delayed renewal.
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Why esports organizations felt the retreat
Sponsorship has been a substantial part of esports organizations’ revenue, though published estimates measure it differently. The SportsTech World Series’ 2022 report estimated that sponsorship represented 60.5% of esports revenue distribution for 2022. Deloitte, discussing surveyed teams, reported that core esports activities accounted for about 65% of team revenue; sponsorship sales made up 37% and prize money 15%. Deloitte’s figures describe its surveyed teams and revenue categories, not a directly comparable version of the SportsTech estimate.
Neither figure means that every team receives the same share from sponsors. Together, they show why fewer deals or delayed renewals can create pressure: sponsorship is a meaningful revenue line, while the size of the effect varies by organization and by how its income is measured.
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Can other esports revenue replace crypto sponsorships?
Other revenue sources exist, but none automatically replaces a lost sponsor. An esports company disclosure filed with the SEC lists league revenue sharing, prize money, athlete transfer and rental fees, sponsorship, and advertising among revenue sources. The filing describes potential revenue streams, not guaranteed substitutes; some depend on competitive results or other business conditions.
A separate company-specific example illustrates the risk. FaZe Holdings reported a $2.8 million decrease in brand sponsorship revenue for its reported 2023 period, attributing the decline primarily to fewer new deals and delayed renewals. That company filing is evidence about FaZe’s reported results, not an industry-wide measure.
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Are crypto companies still sponsoring esports teams?
The available counts do not answer this with a reliable current total. CoinGecko’s figures cover sports sponsorships broadly, while individual esports examples cannot establish how many team, league, event, or venue agreements remain active in 2026. A deal signed in a given year is also not necessarily active now. The evidence supports a historical boom, a sharp slowdown, and a partial recovery in sports-wide dealmaking—not a verified current count or total value for esports-only crypto sponsorships.
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