Online payment system Bitcoin will become the title sponsor of college American football’s St. Petersburg Bowl post-season game under a three-year sponsorship deal signed by ESPN Events and Bitcoin payment processor BitPay.
The sponsorship takes effect from this year’s game at Tropicana Field in Florida on December 26 and runs through 2016.
The St. Petersburg Bowl will air on US sports network ESPN and 2014 marks the first year of its new affiliation with the Atlantic Coast Conference and the American Athletic Conference, with the ACC and the AAC providing the teams for the match.
Bitcoin replaces sports-themed restaurant chain Beef O’Brady’s, which served as presenting sponsor to the game from 2009 to 2013. The agreement marks Bitcoin’s first major sports sponsorship deal.