Staples Center to become Crypto.com Arena in $ 700 million naming rights deal

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LOS ANGELES – Staples Center is changing its name. Starting on Christmas Day, it will be Crypto.com Arena.

Downtown Los Angeles, home of the NBA Lakers and Clippers, NHL Kings and WNBA Sparks, will change its name after 22 years in business, the arena owner announced Tuesday night AEG.

Crypto.com is paying $ 700 million, according to multiple reports, over 20 years to rename the building. The parties are not publicly announcing the financial terms of what is considered the richest naming rights deal in sports history.

The 20,000-seat arena has been the Staples Center since it opened in October 1999, with the naming rights held by the US office supply retailer under a 20-year deal. The name will change when the Lakers welcome the Brooklyn Nets to the NBA’s annual Christmas showcase.

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Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency exchange and platform headquartered in Singapore. Founded in 2016, Crypto.com has seen a spate of spending in the global sports landscape over the past year. The platform signed high-visibility sponsorship deals with Formula 1, UFC, Italian Serie A, Paris St-Germain and the NHL Montreal Canadiens, while also purchasing the NHL’s sponsorship patch. ‘Philadelphia 76ers uniform.

AEG, the sports and entertainment conglomerate which owns a majority of the Kings and had a stake in the Lakers until last summer, built the arena which quickly became a famous setting for major events in the second most large metropolitan area of ​​the United States.

In addition to its athletic tenants, the arena has hosted 19 Grammy awards ceremonies, three NBA All-Star games, two NHL All-Star games, and countless concerts, performances and important public events including landmarks. commemorations for Michael Jackson, Nipsey Hussle and Kobe Bryant.

The Lakers have won six NBA championships during their tenure in the cavernous arena, including three in a row in their first three years in business. Banners commemorating the Lakers’ 17 NBA titles hang high on the walls above the playing floor, offering what might be the building’s most distinctive interior feature.

The Sparks won three WNBA titles at Staples Center, and the Kings won their first two Stanley Cup championships there (2012 and 2014), winning both at home.

The Clippers will be short films at Crypto.com Arena. They are expected to open owner Steve Ballmer’s $ 1.2 billion, 18,000-seat Intuit Dome in the nearby Inglewood neighborhood in 2024, when their lease at Staples Center expires. However, the Clippers were among the first to respond to the name change after hosting Spurs from San Antonio on Tuesday night.

“It’s kind of like taking history out here and calling it another way,” said Paul George, who grew up in Palmdale, outside Los Angeles.

Reggie Jackson also struggled to come to terms with the name change.

“[The Lakers] have their history here, Kobe, especially my time, growing up, watching these championships. Shaq [O’Neal]. No, it’s too many memories. It’s going to be hard not to call him Staples, ”he said.

ESPN’s Associated Press and Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.

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