National Basketball Association (NBA) team Miami Heat’s home arena will soon be renamed after a Florida judge ended the naming rights agreement between the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.com, and Miami-Dade County, according to a Wednesday court filing.
See related article: LA’s Staples Center to be renamed Crypto.com Arena
Fast facts
- Both Miami-Dade and the new FTX leadership asked the judge overseeing the exchange’s bankruptcy in November to end the agreement amid accusations of fraud within the company’s previous leadership group, led by founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
- Lawyers for Miami-Dade County said that FTX owed US$16.5 million for terminating the agreement, and an additional US$5.5 million if the agreement wasn’t terminated by Jan. 1. Wednesday’s ruling was retroactively set to Dec. 31.
- The County is now free to pursue new advertising partnerships for the stadium.
- The US$135 million-dollar deal was to last for 19 years since the deal was signed in March 2021. The County had pledged the funds towards preventing gun violence.
- FTX already paid Miami-Dade US$20 million, much of which had already been spent.
- In November of 2021, Singapore-based Crypto.com spent over US$700 million to rename the iconic Staples Centre, home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, to the Crypto.com Arena for two decades.
- Crypto.com also entered into an advertising partnership with the Australian Football League in January last year, which has recently come under scrutiny from U.K. advertising watchdogs for poor disclosure of risks and trading fees.
See related article: Exchange Crypto.com revs up sports sponsorships as Formula 1 partner
