Goodbye, Barclays Center? After $35 million/year arena naming rights deal in Los Angeles, a new/renegotiated deal in Brooklyn seems inevitable

It has to be coming, sooner or later. The 20-year Barclays Center naming rights deal, compared with recent deals, has to get renegotiated, or bought out before its September 2032 expiration.

The market has changed. As I wrote in September, the new Intuit sponsorship for the Los Angeles Clipper's new arena is a reported 23-year deal exceeding $500 million, or more than $21.7 million a year. 

Now, as Sportico reported this morning, the Staples Center in Los Angeles will be renamed Crypto.com Arena, "in a 20-year deal worth more than $700 million, according to a person familiar with the agreement."

That's $35 million a year. The market has escalated.

Trends are upward

As I wrote last May, if the New York Islanders' new UBS Arena at Belmont Park garnered naming rights worth at least (a reported) $15 million a year, that means the Barclays Center deal is a bargain, at $10 million (or so) a year, and should face renegotiation.

In Los Angeles, the Crypto.com arena name will be officially unveiled on Christmas Day, the day of a nationally televised game between the home Los Angeles Lakers and, yes, the (once) league favorite Brooklyn Nets.

The Nets' blowout home loss to the Golden State Warriors last night, as well as the absence of star guard Kyrie Irving limit championship aspirations, but the Brooklyn platform is still valuable.

Consider: if the Lakers' new uniform patch deal with Bibigo is worth $20 million a year, and the Nets' patch deal with Webull is worth $30 million a year, shouldn't the Nets' arena sponsorship at least keep pace, or exceed, the deal in Los Angeles?

Stay tuned. 

Along with longstanding companies like Intuit or UBS, newer companies--some flush with new funding--like Webull and Crypto.com want to make their mark.