The Miami Heat have made a major announcement.
The team terminated its business relationship with its arena’s naming rights partner, FTX. The company came under scrutiny earlier this week after a catastrophic collapse. The collapse led to its founder stepping down after filing for bankruptcy. So FTX Arena is no more for the Heat.
The team released a joint statement with Miami-Dade County on Friday night, confirming its relationship severance. The release stated, “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.”
The Heat and FTX agreed to an absurd 19-year naming rights contract in 2021. The deal was worth $195 million. Obviously, you can kiss all that goodbye now. There’s no early tell of what the next company to take the naming rights from the Heat is, but many will likely be there to line up.
Miami is not the only team who could have to navigate through troubled waters if the cryptocurrency crashes spread further. The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers were one notable group whose arena changed names recently. That name change was met with honesty at the time. It’s hard to say who could have seen this coming.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022