Giannis Antetokounmpo # 34 of the Milwaukee Bucks drives to the basket against Bam Adebayo # 13 of the Miami Heat during the second half at the American Airlines Arena on March 2, 2020 in Miami, Florida.
Michael Reaves | Getty images
A city trying to turn itself into the center of the crypto world could soon get a cryptocurrency exchange at the stadium of its NBA franchise.
FTX has acquired the naming rights to the entertainment venue currently known as American Airlines Arena, home of the Miami Heat. The deal, approved by the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners on Friday, stands at $ 135 million over 19 years.
The NBA has yet to approve the deal before it goes official, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said in an email. The NBA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Heat declined to comment.
The company now joins a long and sometimes eventful history of stadium naming rights companies. Some brands are becoming synonymous with their franchises, such as Gillette and the New England Patriots or Staples Center and the Los Angeles Lakers.
For other companies, however, the naming rights served as billboards reminding the public of their struggles. Sports Authority had to release its sponsorship of the NFL’s Broncos Stadium on bail after it went bankrupt in 2016.
Enron famously owned the rights to the MLB’s Houston Astros Stadium before an accounting scandal toppled the company. And in Oklahoma City, Chesapeake Energy’s branding is still on the basketball arena for the NBA’s Thunder, even after the company filed for bankruptcy protection last year.
The dotcom era two decades ago provides even more fodder for misnoting rights. Technology company CMGI was the original sponsor of what would become Gillette Stadium, but had to scrape that agreement after the stock tanked, according to a CNN report at the time. The now-defunct companies Adelphia and PSINet also had naming rights for the NFL stadium around the turn of the century.
Politicians and business leaders in the Miami area have worked for the past year to make the company a welcoming environment for technology and crypto companies. Francis Suarez, the mayor of the City of Miami, told CNBC last month that Miami “positions us as one of the most technology-friendly cities in America” and announced that city workers can choose to be paid in bitcoin.
Many of the commissioners and Daniella Levine Cava, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, praised the agreement that the money from the deal could be used for initiatives to reduce poverty and gun violence. Some commissioners, including Rebeca Sosa, expressed concern about granting the rights to a young company with a limited US presence, but the deal was passed by an overwhelming majority.
FTX is an international cryptocurrency exchange that does not operate in the US and has more products than its counterpart, FTX US. Bankman-Fried said the two are separate companies and he is the majority shareholder of both.
The Miami Heat is one of the most successful NBA franchises in recent years, appearing in 5 NBA finals and winning two titles since 2010.