With FTX Gone, Miami Heat Arena Now Kaseya Center In $117M Naming Deal
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 07:02PM By Barry Janoff
April 4, 2023: Five months after unexpectedly losing its arena naming rights partner, the NBA’s Miami Heat today unveiled a multi-platform deal with Kaseya, a global provider of unified IT management and security software for managed services providers and IT professionals.
The Miami-based firm gets naming rights to the now-named Kaseya Center — put at $117 million over 17 years — and also becomes the “official IT solutions partner of the Miami Heat.”
Miami-Dade County commissioners voted unanimously today in favor of renaming the venue, which opened in 1999 as American Airlines Arena, was renamed FTX Arena in 2021 and then Miami-Dade Arena in November 2022 following the bankruptcy of FTX.
The Heat deal with crypto exchange FTX, signed in June 2021 and initiated this season, was valued at $135 million over 19 years, according to industry analysts.
Kaseya is currently the presenting sponsor of the Miami Heat Bounce Back from Cancer initiative, which has raised $6.4 million since 2019 for cancer research.
“The collapse of our previous partner caught everyone by surprise but, in conjunction with Miami-Dade County, we worked efficiently and incredibly quickly to fill our naming rights vacancy with Kaseya — a local, dynamic and growing company creating job opportunities for South Floridians,” Eric Woolworth, president of The Heat Group’s Business Operations, said via the team.
“Kaseya is a perfect fit and we are incredibly proud to join forces with them. We are also gratified to play our part in keeping the County’s ‘Peace and Prosperity Plan’ in place.”
Woolworth said the deal “wouldn’t have happened so swiftly but for the unprecedented teamwork and cooperation with Miami-Dade County,” which owns the property.
According to Kaseya, “The company has achieved tremendous growth over the last few years, and that has positioned our company to invest in our brand and raise the profile of the entire IT industry through the sponsorship of one of the most important entertainment venues in the world.
“As the Kaseya name becomes more widely known, our customers will benefit because their key stakeholders will recognize our name and some customers will be offered access to special experiences at the venue.”
In addition to its naming rights, Kaseya gets activation including “prominent in-arena signage, hospitality, game day features, digital content, community engagements and entitlement of the long-standing veterans initiative, Home Strong.”
In November, when FTX declared for bankruptcy, the team removed all FTX signage and began a search for a new naming rights partner.
Others impacted by the FTX collapse included the Golden State Warriors, Mercedes-Benz F1, MLB, eSports TMS and such athletes as Stephen Curry, Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neil, Shohei Ohtani, Trevor Lawrence, Naomi Osaka and David Ortiz.
“We are proud to close this deal with a locally based company for the first time in the history of the arena,” Miami-Dade County mayor Daniella Levine Cava said via the Miami-Dade County commission.
“Since Kaseya relocated its headquarters to Miami, it has demonstrated a real commitment to invest in our economy and our local talent by opening the door to the jobs of the future. This deal will not only allow us to continue investing in critical crime prevention programs, it will also strengthen our brand as a global, diverse and future-ready community.”
Photos: Kaseya
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