Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team joins fan token platform Socios

Socios, the blockchain-based platform which has tokenized many sports franchises worldwide, has partnered with the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers.

In a Monday announcement from blockchain-based sports platform Chiliz, Socios said its logo will be prominently featured on Cavaliers’ team jerseys for the upcoming season, scheduled to begin later this year. The platform also said it was currently in the review and development phase for “fan engagement elements” for the team, purportedly referring to tokens or digital collectibles.

“This is the start of an exciting partnership that we believe can eventually lead to greatly enhanced fan engagement for fans of the Cavaliers around the world,” said Socios and Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus. “Chiliz.com is fast developing into a global fan engagement powerhouse, where passive fans are being transitioned into real players in the day-to-day activities of their favourite teams.”

Many basketball franchises have already inked partnership deals with Socios. Earlier this month the firm announced a similar arrangement for branding and a digital presence with the Boston Celtics basketball team, and the Philadelphia 76ers joined the fan token platform in June. The partnerships with U.S.-based sports teams is part of Socios’ expansion into North America — where it plans to open a regional office in the near future.

Related: Arsenal FC to launch AFC Fan Token on Socios

The Socios announcement comes as basketball teams in Canada and the United States have moved seemingly in an effort to bring sports deeper into the crypto space. The Portland Trail Blazers will reportedly have crypto rewards company StormX’s logo on its team jerseys for the next five years, beginning with the upcoming season. The Canadian Elite Basketball League also announced last month it would be allowing players from its seven teams to accept a portion of their salaries in Bitcoin (BTC) starting next week.