The Miami Heat's home stadium, formerly known as FTX Arena, will now be known as Miami-Dade Arena, the team said on Friday.
The modification was made only a few days after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey ruled in favor of Miami-Dade County, which had requested that the name FTX be removed from the stadium in light of the abrupt failure of the cryptocurrency trading company. According to Dorsey's ruling, the Florida county's name rights agreement with FTX Trading, which filed for bankruptcy in November, will be terminated "immediately upon the entry of this judgment."
In a tweet, the Heat announced the renaming of the venue and stated that "branding components will be implemented in the following weeks."
It will take some time to remove the FTX name on the large multipurpose building. The polo shirts used by security guards and the electronic cards needed to gain entry to the building all bear the FTX logo, as do the roof, court, and corridor entrances to the arena.
Miami-Dade county officials requested that the naming rights agreement with FTX be terminated in November, claiming that doing so would only worsen the "enduring problems" brought on by the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the creator of FTX who resigned as CEO in November, has been in and out of court recently after being accused of money laundering and fraud by federal prosecutors. Customers' cryptocurrency funds were allegedly used by Bankman-Fried to pay for obligations and expenses incurred by FTX's hedge fund, Alameda Research, according to accusations made by the prosecution. His trial is set to begin in October after being granted bail.
The FTX case, according to bankruptcy specialist and St. John's University law professor Anthony Sabino, illustrates local governments must exercise caution when choosing a corporation for building naming rights.
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