- Miami Heat and Miami-Dade County also want a new naming rights partner for the arena.
- Both teams called the filing made by FTX for bankruptcy as “extremely disappointing”.
- The arena will still be called ‘FTX Arena’ for Saturday’s game, but will change soon.
Amidst the bankruptcy of FTX group, the NBA’s Miami Heat and Miami-Dade County announced the termination of their relationship with the crypto exchange today. They also informed about looking for a new naming rights partner for their arena in downtown Miami.
In a joint statement, Miami-Dade County and Miami Heat said that the filing made by FTX for bankruptcy is “extremely disappointing”. As a result, both the Miami-Dade County and Miami Heat will together work to look for a new arena name, which was renamed as FTX Arena just last year.
FTX had reportedly signed a 19-year deal worth $135 million to rename the Miami arena in June 2021.
The basketball teams will look for new partners who can fund programs like the ‘Peace and Prosperity’ plan that have successfully created opportunities for people across Miami-Dade.
However, note that the arena will still be called as FTX Arena for Saturday’s game which is held between the Heat and Charlotte Hornets, but signage and the name will soon be changed.
Moreover Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team is also reportedly suspending its partnership with FTX. As a result, Mercedes would immediately remove FTX logos from its Formula One cars.
Interestingly, for the past few years, crypto firms had heavily betted on sports partnerships which was meant to be a strategic tactic for both the industries. The result was, crypto firms jumping on the ‘sports’ alliance’ bandwagon. FTX too had sponsored many sports teams and projects alike.
The terminations were just a matter of time after FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday. The bankruptcy was declared because the company could not cover accounts as customers vigorously started to withdraw funds.
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