‘Worst name ever’: Fans roast $972m NBA stadium name change

One of America’s most iconic stadiums will undergo a major change later this year, but fans aren’t happy with the decision.

American sports fans have absolutely savaged the decision to change the name of Los Angeles’ iconic Staples Center in a AUD$962 million deal.

The famous stadium, which is owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group and got its original name in 1997, has been home to LeBron James’ LA Lakers and the LA Clippers since 1999, as well as the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.

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The Staples Center was also the venue of the funerals of three Los Angeles icons — music legend Michael Jackson (2009), rapper Nipsey Hussle (2019) and five-time NBA champion with the LA Lakers Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna (2020).

But as first reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania on Wednesday, Staples Center will cease to exist after Christmas Day, when its name will officially change to Crypto.com Arena.

According to the Los Angeles Times, it is believed Crypto.com paid AUD$962m for the 20-year naming rights which is the biggest venue naming rights deal in US history.

Crypto.com is a company dedicated to promoting the use of cryptocurrencies on a wider scale.

The arena’s new logo will be unveiled on December 25 when the Lakers host the Brooklyn Nets but the Staples Center signage won’t be replaced until June 2022.

From the 2024-25 NBA season, the Clippers will play out of their own newly built AUD$2.4 billion arena, known as the Intuit Dome, in a bid to create their own identity separate from cross-town rivals the Lakers.

The Staples Center will cease to exist after Christmas Day. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)

Speaking after his side’s win over San Antonio at the Staples Center on Wednesday, Clippers star Paul George confessed it would be “weird” for his current home court to be called something else.

“It’ll be weird,” he said.

“I grew up with Staples being the place to play and the place to be. It will definitely be weird.

“It’s the same location but it‘s kind of like just stripping the history here, calling it something else.

“From here going forward, I guess it’s a new history to be written.

“Good thing we won’t be here too long. We’ll be at our own place so it is what it is I guess.”

Fans were quick to roast the arena’s name change and vowed to keep calling it the Staples Center, while acknowleding it was strange to have such sentimental attachment to a company that sells stationery.

LeBron James’ home court will be known as Crypto.com Arena. Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images/AFP

“I know people really loved the name Staples Center, but it was pretty funny to name the basketball place after office supplies,” writer Heather Anne Campbell tweeted.

“Pretty bleak times when “STAPLES Center” is the better name choice,” NFL writer Patrick Daughterty added.

What in the Elon Musk is this new name for Staples Center 🥴

— Ashley Brewer (@ESPNAshley) November 17, 2021

The https://t.co/yGMDEmy47B Arena is genuinely the worst name I've ever seen given to anything that needed naming ever. https://t.co/qXlsvIiur7pic.twitter.com/TS7Rr96RqS

— James McManus (@JamesMcManus1) November 17, 2021

The Staples Center to be renamed https://t.co/ri5rI4x1mq Arena

— Dan Ozzi (@danozzi) November 17, 2021

who is actually about to call the staples center anything other than the staples center????

— ryan a. mitchell (@TheSlayGawd) November 17, 2021

wow they did it, they came up with a worse name than Staples Center

— Molly Lambert 🦔 (@mollylambert) November 17, 2021