This Baseball Team Now Pays Players in Bitcoin

[Leviathan.007]

The Perth Heat, the most successful baseball team in Australia, has started paying its players in Bitcoin, becoming the first professional sports club around the globe to make such a move.
Payments will be processed on the Lightning Network, a “layer 2” payment protocol on top of the main chain, with the help of the OpenNode platform.
As part of the partnership, staff members will also receive their salaries in the largest cryptocurrency.
On top of that, Bitcoin will be accepted for merchandise and ballpark food.
To underscore its commitment to the largest cryptocurrency, the Heat will hold it on its balance sheet.
Patrick O'Sullivan, the club’s newly appointed chief Bitcoin officer, says that this is not just a “one-off” bet that is meant to hedge against inflation:  
"This is not a one-off purchase to hedge against future uncertainties or inflationary pressures. The Perth Heat are embracing the reality that the future of money and corporate treasuries will live on the Bitcoin blockchain."
Founded back in 1989, the Perth Heat has managed to win 15 Claxton Shield trophies.

Source: https://u.today/this-baseball-team-now-pays-players-in-bitcoin

The interesting point is they are using LN and this a good progress also the part where saying "hedge against inflation" shows more than more people are companies are getting into bitcoin to stay safe from inflation.

[mk4]

Interesting how they still opted to use Lightning, despite the fact that we're talking about athletes that I assume are being paid good amounts of money(not NBA-levels of money, but yea) that they could afford to pay $1 quick base-chain transactions.

[DdmrDdmr]

According to local media, payment stretches out not only to players, but also to staff. It goes on to say that employees will be able to choose to be paid totally, partially, or not at all in bitcoin, not being mandatory to receive payments in bitcoin.

Besides wages, it appears that the club will also accept bitcoin for sponsorship payment, merchandise, and concessions.
Payments in BTC start as early as this Friday … (for whomever choses this option totally/partially).

See: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-17/perth-heat-to-offer-to-pay-players-in-bitcoin/100627522

<…> Am I the only one who has read about the "Chief Bitcoin Officer" position for the first time?

I was assuming it was a role under the wing of the CFO (note that CBO as a title comes off weird, and one would mockingly likely associate it with a McBurger …).

[tasin78]

This is very much interested news for crypto. An Australian baseball team has become the first professional sports team in the world to pay its players and staff in bitcoin. Here the news link: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/bitcoin-baseball-perth-heat-salary-b1959212.html
This is great start on sports for Bitcoin. I think in future all sports player play for Bitcoin or cryptocurrency.

[SFR10]

The interesting point is they are using LN

Interesting how they still opted to use Lightning,

I think it's mainly ^{[apart from what DdmrDdmr posted]} because of their partnership with OpenNode and the fact that they want to protect themselves ^{[not the players or staff]} from possible fluctuations:

• "Now, if he decides to hold the Bitcoin and that loses value in a week's time, well that's his decision, in the same way if you hold it and the price goes up."

It'd be interesting to see how many of them would receive a portion of their salaries in BTCitcoin, especially since it's not yet part of their contracts:

• "In terms of their contracts, they're not contracted to us to receive 'X' amount of bitcoin per season where we could have that fluctuation," he said.

Am I the only one who has read about the "Chief Bitcoin Officer" position for the first time?

[fiulpro]

Not just that there are other big news as well regarding the payment in Bitcoins.

- Miami Mayor wants to pay the employees in Bitcoins
- New York's Mayor wants to be paid in Bitcoins
- El Salvador is already adoption bitcoins so soon enough we could be seeing payments being made in Bitcoins as well
- Dutch football club is thinking of paying the players in bitcoins as well
 
Which does mean we might need better modifications in the lightning network as well.

At the same time Miami Mayor wants the citizens and the employees to set up Bitcoin wallets for them.

Good news for Bitcoins overall

[Smartvirus]

• "In terms of their contracts, they're not contracted to us to receive 'X' amount of bitcoin per season where we could have that fluctuation," he said.

Am I the only one who has read about the "Chief Bitcoin Officer" position for the first time?

Well, your not alone on that but, I guess I saw somewhere on OP that was also stated to be newly installed and that also meant to me like a position that didn't originally existed but was brought about by the recent development in the club. New means of payment, new office to manage its affairs.

Again, they might not have been contracted originally but then, its an option on the table and also for the club, accepting it for a means of payment on another offered items. When it comes to the rise and fall of bitcoin as per its value, it goes both ways and one can either wait out a period to get original value or interest on hodl amount.

Mean while, it remains a welcomed development in bitcoin history and would push it further down the next mile. Just as Tesla though later retrieved there steps but still, it pushed for the next high.

[titular]

Interesting how they still opted to use Lightning, despite the fact that we're talking about athletes that I assume are being paid good amounts of money(not NBA-levels of money, but yea) that they could afford to pay $1 quick base-chain transactions.

I find this strange as well. Will the lightning network even be able to rout such large payments over payment channels?

I'm sure the base layer would do just fine for what they are looking to do.

[Rath_]

I find this strange as well. Will the lightning network even be able to rout such large payments over payment channels?

It is not completely impossible. Any payment can be split into many small chunks which can be routed through different routes. Still, it's not feasible for hundreds/thousands of dollars unless you are connected to a few large nodes. Also, employees might have to worry about inbound capacity, but I guess they will receive their salaries to a custodial wallet managed by OpenNode.

[Vaskiy]

The sports community is making a big advancement through bitcoin, as well as playing a major role in the widespread of the market. At the beginning the teams started to promote bitcoin, slowly they've got into bitcoin adoption getting paid in bitcoin. These days it is getting to be common to see advertisement running around the ground related to cryptocurrencies.

Over the week more news associated with cryptocurrency acceptance as salary have got published. Maybe one by one is following the trend understanding the possible way to stay safe from the inflated fiat.

[yazher]

Sports industries are into bitcoin payments right now and we will see more good results next year. braise yourself guys looks like next year will be huge for the sports fans who are into crypto as well. It will trigger every pro sports after the Staples Center announcements of it changing its name into the Crypto.com arena. If this is not a sign then I don't know what it is. But we need to avoid exaggerations where when some project appears out of nowhere offering coins linked to those names we rush to invest in it. we always need to be careful because this is when the time the scammers use the advantages of the trend to fool their victims.

[mk4]

I find this strange as well. Will the lightning network even be able to rout such large payments over payment channels?

I'm sure the base layer would do just fine for what they are looking to do.

Yep. The only reason I could think of on why they should use Lightning in this case is if they're doing something cooler like pay them by the daily or something. Or maybe just to show that Lightning actually works which is fine by me.

[hugeblack]

I didn't think people with a sports background would want to know some economic viability, but it looks like inflation rates are going to make more people avoid cash and try to get their money out, and I'm glad bitcoin is one of those options.
Anyway payment using LN why? I think they monly payment is over 1000+ USD so that using LN will be useless

[haasanjui]

Perth heat, an Australian baseball league said that they will pay players in bitcoin and it is first team of world which done it first time and it is a part of Success of Bitcoin.

[mindrust]

Source: https://u.today/this-baseball-team-now-pays-players-in-bitcoin

The interesting point is they are using LN and this a good progress also the part where saying "hedge against inflation" shows more than more people are companies are getting into bitcoin to stay safe from inflation.

Amazing news. Them using LN makes these news even more amazing. And people were complaining that LN wasn't usable not decentralized bla bla bla, here it is working being used in real life. The only thing is, these players still get paid in dollars. They only collect the same USD equivalent in BTC. They could have bought BTC with their USD paychecks too. That would be the same thing basically.

[AakZaki]

Using LN for transactions made is the right choice, because using LN in bitcoin transactions will save costs and be faster. The Lightning Network continues to be developed to become a secure and more efficient network for conducting transactions.
Maybe this payment method will be imitated by several other sports.