Los Angeles just got advance notice about one of its Christmas presents. The Staples Center, where all of the city's major indoor sports teams play, will soon no longer use that name: Starting Dec. 25, it will be known as Crypto.com Arena, rebranded in honor of the cryptocurrency exchange out of Singapore, reports the Los Angeles Times. "Today Crypto.com ... and [entertainment company] AEG ... have launched a historic, 20-year naming rights agreement," a release notes of the shift on the arena, which has enjoyed its current moniker since its doors opened in 1999. The announcement didn't sit well with fans and big names, reports Newsweek, with former NFL player George Wrighster III tweeting, "This feels gross," while Kobe Bryant's widow, Vanessa, called the Staples Center "the house that Kobe built."
The New York Times notes the name change is part of the latest trend of "cryptocurrencies [dominating] the business zeitgeist." The paper notes the recent renaming of American Airlines Arena, the venue in Miami where the NBA's Miami Heat plays, to FTX Arena, named for the cryptocurrency firm based out of the Bahamas. Other stadium names over the past decade or so have centered more on giants in the business, banking, and telecom worlds, such as Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena and New York City's Citi Field, formerly known as Shea Stadium.
"In the next few years, people will look back at this moment as the moment when crypto crossed the chasm into the mainstream," Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek says, per the LA Times. "This is just such a brilliant move from the guys at AEG, because the next decade belongs to crypto. ... [T]his positions LA and this particular venue right at the center of it." AEG chief Dan Beckerman, meanwhile, calls it a "match made in heaven." While the name change will officially debut on Christmas Day, it will take till June or so to replace all of the signage. The details on how much Crypto.com paid for the honors aren't yet clear. (More Staples Center stories.)
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