One of the most iconic venues in sports and entertainment will soon be undergoing a name change.
The Athletic‘s Shams Charania initially reported Staples Center — the home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers; the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings; the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and numerous notable concerts and events, will be renamed to Crypto.com Arena on December 25 following what is “believed to be the largest U.S. venue naming rights deal to date.”
The Los Angeles Times confirmed Charania’s report minutes later in an article featuring a rendering of the arena with its new logo, adding that “all of Staples Center signage will be replaced with the new name by June 2022.”
The renaming deal is part of a 20-year agreement between the Singapore cryptocurrency exchange — which reportedly paid more than $700 million for the naming rights, according to sources familiar with the terms — and AEG, the owner and operator of the arena, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Staples Center has been the home of the Lakers, Kings and Clippers since 1999, with the Sparks moving in in 2001, four years after their inaugural season.
The arena has been the home of 11 world championship teams during its 21 years of operation, including six of the Lakers’ record 17 NBA championships (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2020), all three of the Sparks’ WNBA championships (2001, 2002, 2016) and both of the Kings’ Stanley Cup championships (2011-12, 2013-14).
Staples Center has also served as the home of the GRAMMY Awards a record 19 times from 2000-02; 2004-2017; 2019-2020; and will host the event under its new name in 2022.