Sacramento Kings to Accept Bitcoin for Apparel and Ticket Purchases

When your NBA team is in 13th place out of 15 teams in the Western Conference and in the bottom third of the entire league in attendance, you have to build buzz some way. For the Sacramento Kings and its new majority owner, Vivek Ranadivé, the solution appears to be bitcoin.

The Kings announced today that fans will be able to use bitcoin starting March 1 to buy tickets and apparel in the Kings online store. The team is using bitcoin payment processor BitPay to accept the digital currency.

“We are maniacally focused on creating the most seamless experience for our fans in all facets,” Ranadivé said in a prepared statement. “With BitPay, we are able to implement a technology that allows our fans to make Kings-related purchases without physically reaching into their wallets.”

The new Kings owner, who is CEO of publicly traded enterprise software firm Tibco Software, has talked publicly about wanting to bring technology-forward thinking to his team, as part of a movement he dubs NBA 3.0.

“A major tenet of the NBA 3.0 philosophy is about utilizing technology for the betterment of the fan experience, and this is yet another step in that process,” he added in the statement.

The news follows similar recent announcements from online retailer Overstock.com and gaming company Zynga.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Contributions are a key part of the future of Vox

Readers rely on Vox for clear, nuanced coverage that not only illuminates the issues, but poses solutions, too. And we rely on help from our readers: Advertising and grants cover the majority of our costs, but we count on contributions to help us close the gaps in our budget. In fact, we’re looking to reach 95,000 individual contributions before the end of the year. Will you make the next contribution right now? Our average gift is just $20 — and it goes a long way in helping us keep our work free. Vox is here to help everyone understand what’s shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. Join that mission by making a contribution today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via