While the search for a more permanent naming-rights partner begins, the home arena of the Miami Heat will be renamed Miami-Dade Arena. This was announced by the Heat and Miami-Dade County on Friday, two days after the county’s naming rights agreement with the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX was terminated by a bankruptcy court.
FTX brand removal
Earlier this week, a county official stated that it would be known as “the Arena,” but those plans were quickly changed. Both parties said in a statement that in the coming weeks, the removal of the building’s existing signage and the change of branding elements will continue. This as the removal of the FTX brand from all areas of the facility will definitely drag on for several weeks.
It can be observed that FTX’s logo can be found on the court, on many of the entrances, embroidered on the shirts worn by many security and in-game personnel, on the arena roof, and even on the swipe cards used by employees to gain access to the facility.
Last year when trouble was already brewing for FTX, Miami-Dade requested that the naming rights agreement be terminated in November, alleging that continuous referral to the building as FTX Arena would only add to the “enduring hardships” caused by the cryptocurrency exchange’s demise.
Miami Heat arena naming rights deal
Miami-Dade owns the arena and negotiated a 19-year, $135-million naming rights agreement with FTX. The Heat, who have played in the building since January 2, 2000, were to receive $2 million per year under the terms of the agreement, which went into effect in June 2021.
Prior to the FTX transaction, the structure had been known as AmericanAirlines Arena since its inception in 1999. The airline giant, which has a hub in Miami, announced in 2019 that it would not renew its contract after it expired on January 1, 2020. The name of the airline remained on the building until 2021.