*By Michael Teich* One team is bringing crypto to the baseball diamond. The LA Dodgers will hold what is considered to be the first-ever crypto giveaway in sports when they take on the San Diego Padres Friday night. Fans will have a chance to receive digital bobbleheads that double as crypto tokens. After unlocking the Dodgers' coin within an Ethereum wallet, they’ll have the opportunity to download a digital caricature of one of three players: Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner, or Kenley Jansen. “Hopefully, what we're going to see is the start of a new market of collectibles within digital assets,” Ralph Esquibel, the team's VP of Information and Technology, said Friday in an interview on Cheddar. Esquibel said the adoption of blockchain will bring new life to the world of collecting. Collecting sports memorabilia isn't just a hobby, though. It's also a $5.4 billion industry in the U.S., according to research from [collectable.com](https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidseideman/2018/09/19/tech-entrepreneur-determines-first-true-estimate-of-sports-memorabilia-market-5-4-billion/#497ea8df52e8). For now, the Dodgers will not be introducing crypto as a currency to buy peanuts and crackerjacks ー or even tickets to games. But Esquibel sees those options as a possibility for the future. “I don’t believe we’re ready for it, as of yet," he said. The crypto integration is one example of how major league sports teams are trying to lure fans off the couch and into stadiums and improve the venue experience. Teams in other leagues ー like the NFL's Baltimore Ravens and the Atlanta Falcons ー are slashing concession prices. The Ravens’s director of guest experience told Cheddar that he hopes M&T Stadium’s 33 percent price reduction on certain foods and beverages will increase fan engagement and boost [ticket sales](https://cheddar.com/videos/strengthening-nfl-stadium-experience-with-cheaper-food). While the Dodgers are focused on the next big thing in sports memorabilia, Esquibel reassured fans of collectibles that the new crypto tokens won’t replace traditional bobbleheads. At least not for now. For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/la-dodgers-bring-crypto-to-the-baseball-diamond).

Share:
More In Business
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Helping Fuel the Return to Work
On this episode of On the Job, Mark Bowen, General Manager at Midnight Sun in San Francisco, discusses how the pandemic affected LGBTQ+ nightlife and the return to work for service industry workers; Drew Lewis, VP Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion & Talent, ADP, breaks down how DE&I practices can drive greater business value and how organizations can effectively create an action plan for supporting DE&I in the workplace.
Stocks Close Lower on the Last Trading Day of the Month, But S&P and Dow Both Rose in May
Stocks closed lower to end the last trading day of May, but the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones both rose over the past month. The Federal Reserve in early May raised interest rates by half a percentage point as it tries to fight inflation, but the question continues to linger: will we enter a recession as we try to tame inflation? Anthony Saccaro, Founder & President of Providence Financial, joins Closing Bell to discuss today's close, the possibility of a recession, where he is telling clients to look for opportunities, and more.
State of the Semiconductor Industry: One Company Scoops Up a Cloud Computing Firm, While Others Lower Outlook, Prepare to Raise Prices
The semiconductor industry is at an inflection point as it tries to fully recover from the worst of pandemic-era headwinds. While Broadcom has announced it will buy cloud computing company VMware, Nvidia is lowering its current quarterly outlook. Meanwhile, TSMC and Intel are contemplating raising prices -- again -- thanks to higher materials costs. Where does the industry go from here? Ted Mortonson, technology strategist at Baird, joins Closing Bell to discuss.
Load More