Miami HEAT Arena Ends 19-Year Naming Rights Deal With FTX
- Miami HEAT and Miami-Dade County issues a statement confirmed that they are ending the 19-year deal with bankrupt crypto exchange FTX early after the CEO stepped down and investors lost their money.
- The two are looking for new entites to sign naming rights deal with and revealed that FTX made a balloon payment of $14 million initially and had to pay $5.5 million in January.
- Images are circulating on Twitter showing that the FTX logo is being removed from the Miami HEAT Arena and people are wondering if Binance would be interested in making the deal for naming rights.
Miami HEAT Arena, a multi-purpose arena located in Miami, Florida, along Biscayne Bay, had signed a deal with the now-disgraced and bankrupt crypto exchange, FTX, last year, according to which the latter paid around $135 million for getting the naming rights for the arena for a total of 19 years. The arena was then named FTX Arena but now, after the exchange has filed for bankruptcy and its CEO has stepped down, the arena is cutting ties with the exchange.
As per a press statement issues by the Miami HEAT and Miami-Dade County, the two are now ending their deal with FTX early and are reportedly looking for new entites to sign naming rights deal with. Additionally, numerous photos were shared via social media that the exchange’s logo was being removed from the Arena and people joked about the possibility of the arena now being named “BNB Arena.”
“The reports about FTX and its affiliates are extremely disappointing. Miami-Dade County and the Miami HEAT are immediately taking action to terminate our business relationships with FTX, and we will be working together to find a new naming rights partner for the arena,” a press statement issued Friday reads.
Interestingly, the name of the Miami HEAT Arena is still FTX Arena technically for the Heat and Charlotte Hornets game no Friday, but signage and the name will soon come down as per the press statement. The statement also revealed that FTX initially made a balloon payment of $14 million and was supposed to pay around $5.5 million in January but since the ties are now ending, it seems that the exchange won’t have to pay the amount, considering the fact that it has filed for bankruptcy as well.
FTX was one of the biggest exchanges in the world and was worth close to $32 billion after a funding round led by Sequoia Capital and Softbank. However, the aggressive trading tactics of Alameda led to the liquidity crunch that the firm is currently in. Despite asking for several firms to acquire the exchange, almost everyone refuted to help Bankman-Fried and his exchange which was founded in 2019. This is because of the $10-$30 billion hole in its balance sheet.
On the other hand, Miami became the a center of attraction for crypto firms and recently, Bankman-Fried or SBF, confirmed that the exchange’s US arm, FTX.US, was shifting its headquarters to Miami from Chicago due to the favorable atmosphere for crypto firms.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
