The house of the Miami Heat has one more name: Miami-Dade Arena.
That will probably be the temporary moniker for the constructing where the NBA team plays its home games, while the seek for a more everlasting naming-rights partner commences.
The Heat and Miami-Dade County announced the brand new name Friday, two days after a bankruptcy court terminated the county’s naming rights cope with collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
A county official had said earlier within the week that it will be known as “the Arena,” though those plans quickly modified.
“Effective immediately, Miami-Dade County and the Miami Heat have agreed that, until such time as there’s a recent naming rights partner, to discuss with the world as Miami-Dade Arena,” the parties said in a joint statement. “The removal of the power’s existing signage and the changeover of branding elements will probably be ongoing in the approaching weeks.”
The technique of removing FTX branding from all features of the world will take a while.
The corporate’s logo appears on the court, is on lots of the entrances, is embroidered on the shirts many security and in-game personnel wear, is on the world roof and even was placed on the swipe cards that employees use to access the power.
The county asked for the naming rights deal to be terminated in November, saying on the time that continuing to discuss with the constructing as FTX Arena will only add to the “enduring hardships” brought on by the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange.
It’ll take time for all FTX logos and signs to be faraway from the world. Getty Images
The county owns the world and negotiated what was to be a 19-year, $135 million naming rights cope with FTX.
The Heat — who’ve played within the constructing since Jan. 2, 2000 — were to receive $2 million annually as a part of that deal, which went into effect in June 2021. The county and the Heat say they’ll work together to seek out a recent naming partner.
Before the FTX deal, the constructing had been known as AmericanAirlines Arena since its opening in 1999.
FTX Arena is featured underneath the middle video board at Miami-Dade Arena.Getty Images
The airline giant, which has a hub in Miami, said in 2019 that it will not renew its deal past the expiration date of Jan. 1, 2020. The airline’s name remained on the constructing until 2021.
FTX was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, though it ended up with billions of dollars’ value of losses — estimates range from $8 billion to $10 billion — before in search of bankruptcy protection after a spectacular crash that took only a couple of days.
Its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, was arrested last month within the Bahamas and extradited to the U.S. to face criminal charges in what U.S. Attorney Damian Williams has called “considered one of the largest frauds in American history.”
Bankman-Fried has been released on bail and is scheduled to go on trial in October. He has pleaded not guilty.
With Post wires