The Staples Center Has Been Re-Named The Crypto.com Arena
Take a good look at that picture above, because it could be one of the last times you see that particular building with the words STAPLES Center on it. After 22 years as the aforementioned Staples Center, the Staples Center is no more. It would make 100% pure good sense to rename it the People’s Republic of Lakerton (in municipal partnership with Little Clipperville), but that’s not what’s happening here. It was announced yesterday that that building will be known as the Crypto.com Arena. That name might have made you roll your eyes and wonder if they’ll let just anyone name these buildings. And the answer would be yes, they do, so long as the check is big enough and it successfully clears at the bank.
So something that I just learned from this truly heinous naming situation, which we’ll get to in a second, is that when a big arena or venue is named, it can be a contract thing with a finite amount of time attached. When the Staples Center was opened in October 1999, it was the Staples Center, and it could have been the Staples Center forever, should Staples decide they want to keep paying to have their name up on the side of the building. But according to Yahoo! News, the arena is owned by AEG, and they recently signed a 20-year naming rights deal with the cryptocurrency exchange site Crypto.com for a reported $700 million. It’s allegedly the biggest naming deal in US history.
Staples Center – the iconic home of the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers among others since 1999 – will have a new name beginning Dec. 25: https://t.co/lur8Hbuv0r Arena. It’s believed to be the largest U.S. venue naming rights deal to date.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 17, 2021
Crypto.com’s chief executive Kris Marszalek released a statement about the name change, and he says they’re hoping the new name will help the idea of cryptocurrency go mainstream. Well, good luck to you on that. Because crypto’s current vibe is weird dudes whose main source of socialization is whatever Reddit group they haven’t been kicked out of yet for sounding like a scammy crypto-trading bot.
“In the next few years, people will look back at this moment as the moment when crypto crossed the chasm into the mainstream. This is just such a brilliant move from the guys at AEG, because the next decade belongs to crypto. And this positions L.A. and this particular venue right at the center of it.”
According to Yahoo! News, the name change was supposed to happen two years ago, but then COVID got in the way:
Staples initially signed a $100 million deal in 1997 for the naming rights to the arena, and then signed another deal in 2009. AEG bought the rights back in 2019, but delayed renaming the arena due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Times.
Here’s what the ugly new logo will look like:
We're extremely proud to announce that Staples Center, Los Angeles' most iconic arena is getting a new name:
https://t.co/vCNztATkNg Arena
As part of this 20 year partnership, we're also excited to welcome the @Lakers & @LAKings as our newest partners! pic.twitter.com/KCfYKySDRt
— Crypto.com (@cryptocom) November 17, 2021
The Staples Center (I refuse to call it the Crypto Clubhouse or whatever until I absolutely have to) currently hosts the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers (until they move to their own home at the Intuit Dome in 2024), the Los Angeles Kings, and the Los Angeles Sparks. The internet believes that it won’t always be called the Crypto.com Arena, with speculation being that the nickname “The Crypt” will stick. Even if people want crypto to go mainstream, it still sounds like a fad, like naming it the Beanie Baby Stadium or the Fidget Spinner Dome. Especially since it appears that the only criteria for a name change is having a big enough check. What’s going to stop other richies from buying up sports arenas and giving them truly embarrassing names in the name of inflated hubris and ego? I don’t want to attend a future concert at the Jeff Bezos Is Sexier Than Leonardo DiCaprio Coliseum.
Pic: Instagram