Goodbye FTX Arena: Miami Heat Stadium Ditches Crypto Sponsor
A federal bankruptcy judge approved the termination of the contract between Miami-Dade County and FTX that gave the cryptocurrency exchange naming rights for the home of the Miami Heat.
Judge
John Dorsey
on Wednesday approved Miami-Dade and FTX’s request to end the deal. Miami-Dade will no longer refer to the venue, the downtown Miami sports facility that is owned by the county, as FTX Arena, according to the agreement, and the county will remove all off-site public references to the former name.
Miami-Dade County and lawyers for FTX didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The contract’s termination adds FTX to a long list of companies that signed naming rights-deals that went sour after the sponsors ran into financial difficulties.
Enron Corp.’s $100 million, 30-year deal signed in 1999 with the Houston Astros was perhaps the most famous of the failed stadium-naming rights agreements. The Astros bought the naming rights back from Enron in 2002 for $2.1 million after Enron collapsed the previous year.
Chesapeake Energy Corp.
signed a 12-year deal in 2011 for naming rights to the home of the Oklahoma City Thunder. After Chesapeake filed for bankruptcy in 2020, the company ended the deal.
FTX signed the 19-year, $135 million agreement with Miami-Dade for the naming rights of the arena in March 2021, marking one of the highest-profile sports deals for the cryptocurrency exchange. The company was also signing deals with athletes and celebrities who either invested in FTX or were brand ambassadors for the company.
Then FTX imploded. After the troubled cryptocurrency filed for bankruptcy in November, Miami-Dade sought to terminate the contract so it could find a new sponsor.
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What are your views on naming rights for arenas? Join the conversation below.
The county’s lawyers had argued that FTX breached terms of the deal by running afoul of laws governing financial exchanges. They referred to investigations by the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The county’s lawyers also pointed to the comments made by former FTX CEO
Sam Bankman-Fried,
who said on Twitter that customer funds were mismanaged.
FTX later asked the bankruptcy court to end the deal, effective Dec. 31.
Write to Joseph De Avila at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
A federal bankruptcy judge approved the termination of the contract between Miami-Dade County and FTX that gave the cryptocurrency exchange naming rights for the home of the Miami Heat.
Judge
John Dorsey
on Wednesday approved Miami-Dade and FTX’s request to end the deal. Miami-Dade will no longer refer to the venue, the downtown Miami sports facility that is owned by the county, as FTX Arena, according to the agreement, and the county will remove all off-site public references to the former name.
Miami-Dade County and lawyers for FTX didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The contract’s termination adds FTX to a long list of companies that signed naming rights-deals that went sour after the sponsors ran into financial difficulties.
Enron Corp.’s $100 million, 30-year deal signed in 1999 with the Houston Astros was perhaps the most famous of the failed stadium-naming rights agreements. The Astros bought the naming rights back from Enron in 2002 for $2.1 million after Enron collapsed the previous year.
Chesapeake Energy Corp.
signed a 12-year deal in 2011 for naming rights to the home of the Oklahoma City Thunder. After Chesapeake filed for bankruptcy in 2020, the company ended the deal.
FTX signed the 19-year, $135 million agreement with Miami-Dade for the naming rights of the arena in March 2021, marking one of the highest-profile sports deals for the cryptocurrency exchange. The company was also signing deals with athletes and celebrities who either invested in FTX or were brand ambassadors for the company.
Then FTX imploded. After the troubled cryptocurrency filed for bankruptcy in November, Miami-Dade sought to terminate the contract so it could find a new sponsor.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your views on naming rights for arenas? Join the conversation below.
The county’s lawyers had argued that FTX breached terms of the deal by running afoul of laws governing financial exchanges. They referred to investigations by the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The county’s lawyers also pointed to the comments made by former FTX CEO
Sam Bankman-Fried,
who said on Twitter that customer funds were mismanaged.
FTX later asked the bankruptcy court to end the deal, effective Dec. 31.
Write to Joseph De Avila at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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