How 2021 became the year of baseball’s first Bitcoin team

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The CEO of Perth Heat recalls how he and the Bitcoin team leader put their baseball team on a Bitcoin standard in 2021.

“What are we missing? Is the question Patrick O’Sullivan, our Head of Bitcoin (CBO) at Perth Heat, and I have asked ourselves the most in 2021.

As the CEO of the Perth Heat, Patrick and I plundered the organization and worked to operate on a Bitcoin standard, but kept stumbling on the same step.

“What are we missing and why hasn’t another sports team done this already?” We have asked ourselves over and over again.

For Patrick and I, deciding to switch to a Bitcoin standard was an easy decision. We never thought it was a risky decision. In fact, we thought it was the only decision we needed to make in 2021.

But that doesn’t mean the process went smoothly. Here’s how, throughout 2021, we made Perth Heath the world’s first Bitcoin baseball club.

Q1: Convince the board of directors

Patrick’s role as CBO started to take shape during the first trimester. Having managed to get rid of orange pilling from late 2019 to early 2020, it was clear at that point that it was time to get started with the organization.

Of course, the first step was to convince the board of directors. I often say how I am the luckiest CEO on the planet to have such an innovative, open-minded and confident group of board members and owners. I remember talking to President Rory Vassallo about our Bitcoin plans and his response: “If you think this is best for the Perth Heat, go for it.”

I should note that Rory is a very successful businessman who often says that “you never get ahead by just doing the same as everyone else”.

With a clear track, Patrick and I got to work.

How the Perth Heat adopted a Bitcoin standard. Source: The author. Q2: Go all out

The second quarter was the time when Patrick and I decided that if the Perth Heat were to run on a Bitcoin standard then we were going all out.

It wasn’t going to be a piecemeal ad with one player asking for bitcoin as payment – it would be the Perth Heat announcing that all players and staff would be paid in bitcoin and fully commit to becoming #TheBitcoinBaseballTeam.

At the time, we were finalizing our way to go, the Indy 500 was also happening with Ed Carpenter and the Bitcoin car.

It’s hard to hide the emotion – I love Jack Mallers of Strike, who was behind the Indy car – but what he achieved with the Ed Carpenter Racing team forced Patrick and I to rethink our strategy.

If the Perth Heat are to position themselves as #TheBitcoinBaseballTeam, should the Bitcoin community have the ability to control the levers and have a voice? And would the Bitcoin network want to support a baseball team?

Are we following a similar path as the Ed Carpenter racing team, seeking network support and funding, or are we sticking to our original plan?

Patrick has always been very focused on seeing a company go all out.

As the Bitcoin plebs, their fallback stance is always, “What would I like to see from a Bitcoin sports team?” A team that is thoroughly, from top to bottom.

Q3: An easy transition

In the third quarter, Patrick and I realized that the transition to a Bitcoin standard would be easier than we had feared.

Advances in technology, infrastructure and the Lightning Network have become evident and the continued support we have received from the community has been overwhelming.

It doesn’t matter who we connected with, from Stephan Livera to Swan Bitcoin to Ryan Flowers to

OpenNode to Anthony Pompliano, the energy was the same and it was contagious.

In the third quarter we had to start talking to key people in the organization and the process was selective. These were not complicated discussions and the feedback was positive. Whenever we have spoken to a member of the organization, I have always felt a real enthusiasm for the project and a thirst on the part of the individual to know more.

The board has been incredibly supportive during the third quarter with strategic direction understanding that how we started our journey would not be how we see the future. One of the owners, Christian Galopoulos, played a decisive role in this phase. Christian was on the orange pill. He was like Patrick and me.

Q4: The championship quarter

The Championship quarterback is the quarterback we love. Champions are immortalized during Quarter of the Moon!

The fourth quarter started off very bearish for the Heat. We had planned to make an announcement about adopting a Bitcoin standard on October 18, but in the background, the COVID-19 pandemic was sweeping through Australia. The Australian League Baseball season was uncertain, with strong concerns over whether or not the games could be played.

Patrick and I decided we needed to take a break. Could we move forward with the uncertainty of COVID-19? We spent days and nights discussing our options. We were ready, but we didn’t want to wait until 2022.

The break, in many ways, worked in our favor.

The plan to move to a Bitcoin standard was always going to be gradual, so if that now meant that our player payouts would be postponed until the new games schedule was released, we were comfortable with that adjustment. Additionally, a gradual rollout would also help us continue the orange pilling of staff and players.

Orange stacking Perth Heat players. Source: The author.

Our November 16 announcement coincided with the Staples Center in Los Angeles’ announcement of a $ 700 million partnership to change its name to Crypto.com Arena.

Hearing Marty Bent and Matt Odell on the “Tales From The Crypto” podcast say that the Perth Heat announcement was more important than the Staples Center naming rights, Patrick and I asked ourselves again, “What- what are we missing? “

The answer was the same as 12 months ago: nothing.

#TheBitcoinBaseballTeam is the future of sports.

This is a guest article by Steven Nelkovski. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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