Staples Center To Be Renamed 'Crypto.com Arena' After A $700 Million Naming Deal
Andrew Thornton Say Hello to the Crypto.com Arena. The Staples Center in Los Angeles is getting a new name after Anschutz Entertainment Group sold the naming rights in a 20-year deal worth a staggering $700 million. Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency trading platform, secured the 20-year contract and is set to hang its name on the arena starting Christmas Day.
The venue is the leading indoor sports and concert venue in Los Angeles and home of the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. The Grammy Awards have been held at the arena since 2000, too.
The arena's prime tenant is the Los Angeles Lakers, valued by Forbes at $5.5 billion, making them the third most valuable brand in the NBA. The new moniker will debut during a nationally televised game between the Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets on December 25th.
The enormous fee, $700 million over 20 years, is evidence of the explosive growth in the cost of obtaining naming rights on big-league arenas and stadiums in major cities. Back in 1999, the office supply store chain Staples paid $116 million in a 20-year deal to hang its name on the same arena, a deal extended in 2009.
RELATED: Luxury Tax Could Significantly Impact The Players Of L.A. Lakers
The deal is believed to be the largest venue naming rights deal in United States history.
By comparison, the Clippers recently struck a 23-year deal to name their new Inglewood arena the Intuit Dome. That deal, according to CNBC, is worth more than $500 million. The arena is set to open in 2024. The naming rights deal for SoFi Stadium, which is home to both the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, is worth more than $600 million, according to Sports Business Journal.
Crypto.com is the second cryptocurrency company to land a sports arena in the United States in recent months. FTX reached a $135 million deal to rename the Miami Heat’s arena from the American Airlines Arena to FTX Arena in June.
Crypto CEO Kris Marszalek told the Los Angeles Times that the next decade belongs to Crypto and that this was a moment to reflect on.
“In the next few years, people will look back at this moment as the moment when crypto crossed the chasm into the mainstream.”
READ NEXT: Clippers Owner Steve Ballmer Becomes 9th Member Of The $100 Billion Club
Sources: ESPN
