Angel City Lands Crypto.com As A Founding Partner But Supporters Aren’t Sold | Today in Woso

The big news in NWSL today finds expansion club Angel City FC landing (potentially) the largest sponsorship deal in league history. Crypto.com and Angel City have entered a partnership that will be, “Key to Angel City’s goal to drive equity for women is to empower them with the tools and resources to be financially independent.” said ACFC President Julie Uhrman on Tuesday.

That’s all well and good but this is a polarizing partnership.

Cryptocurrency is here to say, warts and all… but those warts have been exploited within the NWSL community already. There was a vast public outcry from supporters when it was announced last week that the league was partnering with Crypto fund Voyager to open supplementary payment for players. This coming during the player’s drive toward a liveable minimum salary within the league. It sounded an awful lot like, “We can’t give you minimum salaries… but we can give you this highly speculative asset!!! Please clap”.

Obviously that wasn’t the league’s mindset, but it just leads to the idea that league leadership is out of touch with how their messaging lands with the players, and supporters, not involved in the discussions.