Choosing Cristiano Ronaldo is no coincidence...

It is no secret how much influence and dominance soccer sport has on the hearts of billions around the world. According to statistics, about 3.5 billion people watch soccer games every single week. It is half of the world’s population. Impressive and it is very hard to find any other sport that even comes close to this. Moreover, we have the highly anticipated Qatar World Cup around the corner, a historic event that will be knocking at the door in just 5 months!

Amidst these facts, Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange has inked a sponsorship deal with the Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. This deal involves plans to create multiple collections of NFTs that will be released exclusively on the Binance NFT in Q3 2022. This is around the same time the 2022 World Cup will take place, and it is also the same time when Soccer popularity reaches its peak!
Coincidence? I don't think so...

Another thing that does not seem coincidental is the fact that Binance has chosen Cristiano Ronaldo over everyone else. I know he is a great player and all, but if we look at the commercial data, we might find out there is more to it than meets the eye...

According to a marketing research published in 2015 by Repucom, Cristiano Ronaldo is the most marketable soccer player in the world, with over 83% of the world's population knowing who he is and over 82% of people saying he reflects today’s trends in society which makes him easily the best "trend-setter" in the world...

It is worth pointing out that the above is 2014's figures which are a far cry from today's figures. For instance, Cristiano Ronaldo presently has over 100 million followers on Twitter and over 150 million on Facebook, so you can imagine how much his fame and influence have grown over the past few years...

"Endorsements of celebrities and in this case footballers have an incredibly powerful way of doing just that creating an emotional connection with a brand. The star can raise awareness and create a buzz for brands and products at a time when breaking through the marketing clutter that surrounds such huge events is critical for commercial success", said Paul Smith, Founder and CEO of Repucom

I think it's not far-fetched to expect Binance to push those NFTs collections in conjunction with the World Cup launch which is likely to create one hell of hype and huge demand for NFTs by soccer fanatics around the world. And it is not just "hopium" to expect that this demand could expand to “meme coins” and the broader crypto space and help limit the current bear market as a whole. However, is it really good to bank on "hype" and "influencers" to promote crypto?

Is it good for crypto and the NFT sector to have a deal like this?

Well...for me, I'd rather see the cryptocurrency and the NFT sector grow slowly and surely in a hype-free environment. Fundamentals should be the only things that push crypto forward, not ads and hypes which are based on short-term emotions.
I'm also afraid that such a deal could lead to over-priced and lower-effort NFTs like the ones we're seeing with the "Bored Ape Yacht Club" which in my opinion does more harm than good to the cryptocurrency's reputation in the long term. Keep in mind hype cannot last forever and tend to go down over time. We already witness people selling an Ape NFT for a few hundred dollars after they had bought them for a few million dollars, something has triggered the sarcasm of even the most well-known crypto advocates such as Vitalik Buterin

The danger is that you have these $3 million monkeys and that becomes a different kind of bet...Vitalik Buterin

On the other hand, however, I believe that crypto needs some kind of credibility and recognition by celebrities to fight back all the doom and gloom coming from governments and the media. We need to prove that it is not just a place for criminals, and gamblers, and Perhaps a trusted sports star like Cristiano will be able to introduce billions of people to crypto, NFTs, and WEB3 in a decent manner that could go a long way to mass adoption...

What do you guys think about it?
I'm keen to learn your opinions and thoughts...