Atlanta, Georgia-based BitPay made huge news recently by becoming the sponsor of the St. Petersburg Bowl (a football game, for our international friends), and in a move that many have pegged as classy, had it renamed to the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl (as opposed to naming it after their own company).
Now, executives from the company are traveling down to their neighbor state to make proper arrangements for the game — which takes place in December of this year, with the sponsorship continuing for three years.
The idea is to get as many merchants onboard with the digital currency before the bitcoin bandwagon hits the Florida city, reports the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
“Leading up to the game, we want as many merchants as we can get [in St. Petersburg] to accept bitcoin,” Stephen Pair was quoted as saying. Pair is presently serving as the CEO of the mega-company, which processes bitcoin payments on behalf of merchants — allowing them to instantly convert to local currency if they so choose.
The team of execs have reportedly already been down to St. Petersburg once to discuss bitcoin with the tech community, but this trip is expected to have the goal of engaging with hospitality businesses.
Company vice president of marketing, Stephanie Wargo, is planning to have a meeting with the board behind the St. Petersburg Bowl to get members up to speed on BitPay’s goals, but also with the ins-and-outs of bitcoin and how it works.
Certainly, it’s expected to be a long and difficult journey for the BitPay team, but many would agree these are the necessary moves to creating a small bitcoin ecosystem around this game.
After all, why have a Bitcoin Bowl if nobody will know how bitcoin works?
[textmarker color=”C24000″]Source[/textmarker] Tampa Bay Business Journal