According to a report released yesterday by the Miami Herald, crypto exchange FTX is quite ready to finish a deal that will allow it to sponsor the home of the NBA team the Miami Heat. This will offer exclusive naming rights to the company over the 19,600 places arena.
“Miami-Dade County is getting closer to signing a cryptocurrency company to replace American Airlines as the naming-rights sponsor of the Miami Heat’s downtown arena, according to several sources — a deal that would deliver the NBA its first venue tied to bitcoin and other electronic currencies,” mentions the report.
The Herald also revealed that “Internet breadcrumbs” indicate that FTX is getting ready for the next move as it registered the domain “ftxarena.com,” while also purchasing FTXarena social media handles.
According to reports from 2019, a new sponsor was needed, with hopes for the arena to be renamed in 2020. In the past, American Airlines paid $2 million a year in order to sponsor the arena.
The move looks like it may be part of a bigger strategy in which crypto and DeFi from SBF businesses and investments are being popularized.
In this case, the move to buy the naming rights of a popular arena may be the idea of Blockfolio co-founder Edward Moncada. In the past, he spoke of his interest in how crypto and elements of pop culture intersect.