L.A.'s Staples Center to become Crypto.com Arena

One of the NBA’s most iconic arenas is getting a new name. Los Angeles’ Staples Center, the current home of the Lakers and Clippers, will become Crypto.com Arena later this year, according to a press release.

The arena, which is also the home of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the WNBA’s L.A. Sparks, will officially be rebranded on Dec. 25, the day the Lakers host the Nets in a prime-time showdown.

According to Sam Dean of The Los Angeles Times, the naming rights agreement between Crypto.com and AEG, which owns and operates the arena, will cover the next 20 years and is worth more than $700M, making it one of the biggest such deals in sports history.

Although the Lakers and Clippers share the arena for the time being, Steve Ballmer‘s Clippers are building their own arena in Inglewood, Calif. That arena is on track to be opened in 2024, so – barring setbacks – the Clips will only play in the newly renamed Crypto.com Arena for a couple more years before moving into the Intuit Dome.

The Lakers aren’t the first NBA team to partner with Crypto.com — the Sixers currently wear the company’s logo on their uniforms. Crypto.com also isn’t the first cryptocurrency brand to enter into a naming rights deal with an NBA franchise. The Heat’s arena was renamed earlier this year as a result of a deal with cryptocurrency exchange FTX.