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The famed multipurpose Staples Center arena, located in downtown Los Angeles, is being renamed to Crypto.com Arena. The hype over the deal is boosted further as the arena has hosted sports teams like the LA Lakers, LA Kings, LA Sparks, and LA Clippers in the past.
Crypto.com, the Singaporean cryptocurrency platform, is reportedly behind the renaming deal, which costs over $700 million for acquiring naming rights for the next 20 years. The deal is being touted as possibly the most expensive of its kind. It has reportedly beaten the 2017 Scotiabank Arena renaming deal which cost around $800 million (CAD) or $637 million (USD) for 20 years.
On Wednesday, November 17, Crypto.com tweeted about the deal and wrote:
"We're extremely proud to announce that Staples Center, Los Angeles' most iconic arena, is getting a new name: Crypto.com Arena. As part of this 20-year partnership, we're also excited to welcome the @Lakers & @LAKings as our newest partners!"
When will the Staples Center X Crypto.com deal be finalized?
In a press release, Crypto.com mentioned that the firm would reveal the arena's new logo and other branding signage on Christmas, December 25. The same day, the Los Angeles Lakers will host the Brooklyn Nets in the arena.
They also mentioned that all existing external 'Staples Center' signage will be replaced with the newly formed 'Crypto.com Arena' by June 2022.
Crypto.com acquired the naming rights from AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group) for 20 years after the latter bought back Staples' lifetime naming rights before the pandemic.
Kris Marszalek, the cryptocurrency trading platform's co-founder and CEO, said,
"We're very excited about partnering with AEG and investing long term in this city, starting with Crypto.com Arena in the heart of downtown, and using our platform in new and creative ways so that cryptocurrency can power the future of world-class sports, entertainment, and technology for fans in LA and around the world."
Staples Center naming deal and history explained
In 1999, retail giant Staples bought the naming rights for the arena from AEG for $116 million for a period of 20 years. Later in 2009, Staples extended their rights for a lifetime deal. However, in 2019, AEG re-acquired the rights, only to sell it again to Cypto.com in 2021.
Although the exact contract drawn up between AEG and Crypto.com is not publicly known, it can be assumed that Crypto.com must receive a cut of ticket sales and advertising revenue. However, the interesting distinction is that the firm only owns the arena's naming rights, while the actual ownership and operational authority are still with AEG.
