Cryptocurrency company, Crypto.com, has paid $700 million (approximately $962m AUD) for the naming rights to famed sports stadium, Staples Center. This is second crypto company to obtain naming rights to a major sports stadium. FTX bought the naming rights to former American Airlines stadium in Miami for $135 million ($185m AUD) earlier this year.
In a 20 year agreement, Staples Center will be renamed Crypto.com starting from December 25th. Home to NBA teams Lakers and Clippers, WBNA’s Sparks, and NHL’s Kings, the reception to the name change has largely been negative.
What are athletes saying about the Staples Center name change?
Clipper’s star, Paul George has come out to express his dislike of the new name claiming that the owners are “stripping the history here by calling it something else.” Ultimately saying that “it’ll be weird.” This apprehension has also been echoed by other NBA players such as Reggie Jackson saying that “it’ll be hard to not call it Staples.” However, in a more comical interpretation Russell Westbrook was confused over the new name, showing disbelief that they are calling it the “Crip stadium”. He was soon corrected. He further went on to show indifference to the name change, because “regardless of the name, the building is still the building, and that’s what’s most important.”
Fans Express their distaste
Unlike the more measured responses by NBA players, fans have largely been unfiltered in their dislike of the name.
— Steve Nash Productions (Hou Chronicle contributor) (@SteveNashPyt) November 17, 2021
wow they did it, they came up with a worse name than Staples Center
— Molly Lambert 🦔 (@mollylambert) November 17, 2021
This sentiment was largely reflected by other twitter users admitting they will always call it Staples Center. This response was not limited to Twitter, in a poll conducted on Bleacher Report, sports fans overwhelmingly voted that they hated the new name change.
As Staples Center has been the name of the stadium for over 20 years, most have grown up with this name and would likely react negatively to any name change. However not all fans expressed hatred to the new name, as some fans recognised that the name has just replaced one company for another.
What does this mean for the CRO token?
Crypto.com’s token CRO soared on the announcement, rising over 40% before the whole market began to correct. CRO still currently trades approximately 28% above the price before the announcement. Regardless of the short-term gain, the long-term exposure of the brand in one of the most heralded stadiums in the US will most likely only help the company continue to build brand awareness and ultimately draw affinity to the brand among a non-crypto audience. Only time will tell if this deal will go down as a triumph or disaster.