KEY POINTS
  • The figure is up 13% from the NBA's $1.4 billion in sponsorship revenue in the 2020-21 season.
  • Sponsorships include deals for arena-naming rights and for companies to put their names or logos on players' jerseys.
  • Crypto partnerships are now the second most lucrative sponsorship category for the NBA, behind only the technology category.
In this photo illustration a Coinbase logo is displayed on a smartphone with a NBA logo in the background.

Cryptocurrency companies helped fuel the NBA's sponsorship revenue to a record $1.6 billion in the 2021-22 season, according to estimates by IEG, a sports partnerships consultancy.

That's up 13% from the $1.4 billion in the 2020-21 season. In the 2018-19 season, the National Basketball Association raked in $1.2 billion in sponsorship money. Sponsorship agreements can include deals for arena-naming rights and for companies to put their names or logos on players' jerseys.