West Ham could agree huge Crypto deal ‘from what I’m hearing’ – Keith Wyness
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness has insisted crypto companies are going to invest heavily in football clubs as teams like West Ham look to agree new front-of-shirt sponsorship deals.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – revealed he’s heard US president-elect Donald Trump is going to support crypto’s investment in sports moving forward.
West Ham are one of 10 Premier League clubs who are currently sponsored by betting companies.
But top-flight sides will no longer be able to sign up to front-of-shirt sponsorships with gambling firms from the 2026-27 season after they collectively agreed to withdraw from such deals last year.
That will leave a space for companies to exploit as multiple clubs will be looking to strike new deals.
West Ham and fellow Premier League clubs backed to agree crypto deals
Wyness believes crypto will look to take advantage of that situation.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “I think AI and crypto are going to be the things that take over from gambling, although you could say crypto is a funny way of gambling as well.
“But certainly, under the Trump administration, we’ve seen Bitcoin touching up to $100,000 (£79,000). It’s an incredible number.
“Trump’s been very bullish about crypto and I think we’re going to see a lot more of it.
“Also, with blockchain and with AI, I think those are the two markets that I’d expect to see commercial directors really focusing on going forward.
“I do think there is going to be enough funding around. It could be from crypto exchanges or crypto themselves.
“There is going to be a need for them to create their own brand and to get a real brand identity. Football would be perfect in terms of demographic in terms of doing that as well as NFL and NBA.
“I think we’re going to start seeing a lot of crypto advertising and companies fighting to try and establish themselves. The Trump administration is going to support that very heavily.
“From what I’m hearing from friends who are close to the Trump transition team, it’s going to be like the Wild West in terms of moving those sorts of things forward.
“It’s going to be a very interesting economic period coming up and sport can benefit from those areas.”
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