The inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament seemed like a big hit for the players, but basketball fans didn’t quite draw toward it as much as the league might have hoped. With that in mind, and plenty of dollars on the brain, the NBA announced a change to the In-Season Tournament as it will be renamed the Emirates NBA Cup, per The Athletic.

The NBA and Emirates agreed to a multiyear deal that will give the airline title sponsorship rights for the tournament. In addition, there will be an Emirates patch on all referee jerseys in the NBA, WNBA and G-League starting with the All-Star Game later this month.

The first edition of the NBA In-Season Tournament featured a somewhat surprising final as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers. Still, fans voiced their concerns about the tournament, a lot of them on the topic of when it took place.

The In-Season Tournament final was played on Dec. 9, less than two months after the start of the season and more than two months before the All-Star break. Pushing it a little closer to Christmas would maybe bring more eyes, though the final did see a high volume of television viewers.

The Association has tried to build a relationship with the United Arab Emirates and this further shows their sentiment toward that. The United States national team played exhibition games in UAE last summer and there were multiple NBA preseason games in the country in 2022.

The NBA is as global a sports league as there is in the world and perhaps the leader of international relations and fandom among professional sports leagues in the U.S. This latest deal with Emirates solidifies that and gives the NBA's In-Season Tournament an international flair with the name change.