The Miami Heat have a new name for their arena after they and Miami-Dade County agreed to a $117 million deal with computer software company Kaseya Ltd. that will give them naming rights for the next 17 years.
Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola, characterized as a brash but effective executive, issued an official statement (h/t nba.com) after the deal — which will see the Heat arena renamed to the Kaseya Center — was announced.
“As one of the most iconic venues in the world, we could not be more excited to officially rename the arena as the Kaseya Center and partner with the [Heat],” says Voccola.
“Miami is our home, and having Kaseya showcased globally as synonymous with Miami is something we’re very proud of, and will provide significant value to our customers, employees, and the community.
As Voccola alluded to, Kaseya is a Florida-based company whose headquarters are in Miami.
According to the Heat, Kaseya is also “the presenting sponsor of the Miami HEAT Bounce Back from Cancer initiative, which has raised $6.4 million since 2019 for cancer research.”
Following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which filed for bankruptcy, the Kaseya Center as briefly named “the Arena.”
FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried will stand trial after being accused of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars. His charges specifically allege that he diverted consumer funds to make extravagant purchases and make sizable donations to politicians.
Heat president of business operations Eric Woolworth would comment on the deal, as well as the FTX fall through.
“We were all blindsided by what happened with FTX,” says Woolworth, per David Ramil of Forbes. “It was nobody's favorite time period.”
“But I think the story here is how quickly we've been able to move on and find another partner.”
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