Just a year after a string of name changes, the arena where the Miami Heat plays has been given a new identity. And needless to say, it won’t take much time getting used to because the downtown Miami facility will be renamed the AmericanAirlines Arena, throwing it back to its original name!
The change is a result of an extended partnership with the airline giant. The Heat announced that the name change will take effect immediately with indoor and outdoor signage, as well as a new court logo, to be updated.
American Airlines held the naming rights to the arena from its opening in 1999 until 2021, when FTX was named a new partner. After the failure of the cryptocurrency exchange last year, the short-lived FTX Arena was simply dubbed The Arena, before officially taking on the name Miami-Dade Arena.
Miami-Dade County ultimately chose local tech company Kaseya on April 4, 2023 as its new naming rights partner, prompting a final name change: the Kaseya Center.
Despite the changes, many locals have continued to refer to the building by its old (or rather new) name. With a capacity of nearly 20,000 people, the arena has played a pivotal role in the cultural landscape of the city, hosting an array of sporting events, concerts and national conferences all year-round.
How do we feel about this, Miami? Do we think the new name change will last?
APRIL FOOLS!
If you were hoping this was an April Fools joke, it is! We can assure you that there aren’t any new arena name changes and that the Kaseya Center is here to stay, as it has committed to a 17-year agreement.
However, those of you who will continue to call the arena anything other than the AAA, this one’s for you. We get it, Twitter may have rebranded to ‘X’ but we know that name isn’t going to stick. Although we’d argue that the Kaseya Center has a nice ring to it.