ICONIC VENUE BECOMES CRYPTO.COM ARENA STARTING CHRISTMAS DAY
Crypto.com, the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency platform, and AEG, the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company, have launched a historic, 20-year naming rights agreement that will rename the AEG-owned and operated STAPLES Center, one of the most iconic and globally recognized sports and entertainment arenas in the world. Effective December 25, the multi-purpose arena, which hosts hundreds of annual marquee events and serves as the official home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers, the NHL’s LA Kings and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, will be known as Crypto.com Arena. This agreement also makes Crypto.com an official cryptocurrency platform partner of the Los Angeles Lakers and the LA Kings.
To kick off the partnership, AEG and Crypto.com will unveil the new logo and other branding assets including internal arena signage of the newly named Crypto.com Arena on Christmas Day, when the Los Angeles Lakers host the Brooklyn Nets. All of the venue’s external signage will be replaced by June 2022.
Since opening its doors in 1999, the iconic arena, located in downtown Los Angeles, has served as the backdrop to some of the most memorable and prolific sports and live entertainment moments and events to have taken place in the last 20 years and together, through this partnership, AEG and Crypto.com will help shape the next 20. Each year, the world-class venue hosts over 240 major high-profile events of national and international distinction and over 4 million guests with events ranging from professional sports, concerts, family and award shows, boxing and special events, including the GRAMMY Awards, NBA All-Star Games and NHL All-Star Games among others. It has also hosted some of the biggest headlining names and shows in music and live entertainment performing in concert and during 19 of the last 21 GRAMMY Awards shows.
This partnership, brokered by AEG Global Partnerships, places the Crypto.com brand at the center of some of the biggest and most important sports and live entertainment moments set to take place over the course of the next two decades. It also underscores the rapidly growing influence and widespread adoption of Crypto.com’s cryptocurrency platform and NFT marketplace worldwide.
As the exclusive naming rights partner, Crypto.com will engage millions of sports and entertainment fans each year through premium branded areas of the arena including a 3,300 sq. ft activation space at the building’s entrance, as well as dedicated activation areas on the main concourse of the arena and throughout the L.A. LIVE campus. Additionally, the new relationship will see Crypto.com featured prominently across the venue with large-scale, premium branding and signage throughout the interior and exterior of the facility.
Crypto.com and AEG are committed to working in the Los Angeles community to prioritize sustainability and community engagement. AEG was one of the first companies to adopt a greenhouse reduction goal that’s based on the 1.5 ̊ C global warming limit recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Crypto.com committed to becoming carbon negative by the end of 2022 by offsetting more carbon than is generated by all activities across the organization.
Negotiations were led on behalf of AEG by Nick Baker and Russell Silvers, Co-Chief Operating Officers of AEG Global Partnerships and on behalf of Crypto.com by Steven Kalifowitz, Chief Marketing Officer of Crypto.com and Gilad Rodkin, Senior Vice President of Marketing of Crypto.com. Both sides acknowledge that the process moved quickly to a close due to a mutual understanding of each other’s businesses and a shared desire to collaborate and create something truly unique for the future of Los Angeles and fans around the world.
Crypto.com recently partnered with Matt Damon on its first global campaign to formally introduce the platform to users. The campaign will be integrated across Crypto.com’s portfolio of global brand partnerships including UFC, F1, Paris Saint-Germain, and the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, to the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, esports team Fnatic, and Lega Serie A, the Italian Football league and Twitch Rivals. Crypto.com continues to lead the industry in sports sponsorships, as the first Official Cryptocurrency Sponsor and NFT Partner of UFC and F1®.
