For the third time in the last three months, the downtown Miami arena that is the home of the NBA's Miami Heat will have a different name.
On Tuesday, Miami-Dade County Commissioners voted unanimously to rename the Miami-Dade Arena, which the building has been called since cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy last November and the county terminated its agreement.
The building will now be named the Kaseya Center as part of a 17-year, $117.37 million lease agreement.
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“We are proud to close this deal with a locally based company for the first time in the history of the Arena,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a news release. “Since Kaseya relocated its headquarters to Miami, it has demonstrated a real commitment to invest in our economy and our local talent by opening the door to the jobs of the future. This deal will not only allow us to continue investing in critical crime prevention programs, it will also strengthen our brand as a global, diverse and future-ready community.”
What is Kaseya? The global software company provides information technology services while offering IT management, cloud monitoring, services administration, access management, and other services.
“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 Miami Heat,” said Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola. “Miami is our home, and having Kaseya showcased globally as synonymous with Miami is something we’re very proud of."
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“The partnership with Kaseya furthers our commitment to combating gun violence and poverty by funding the Peace and Prosperity Plan. The plan provides at-risk children with meaningful experiences and opportunities to explore a myriad of career paths,” Commissioner Keon Hardemon said.
The plan Hardemon spoke on was originally part of the agreement FTX made with the county to create a program as part of its naming rights deal.
The company, whose headquarters are in Brickell, serves over 48,000 customers worldwide and approximately 4,500 employees.
Kaseya said it is committed to adding over 3,000 new positions within the next few years.
Before the FTX deal, the building had been referred to as AmericanAirlines Arena since its opening in 1999. The airline giant, which has a hub in Miami, said in 2019 that it would not renew its deal past the expiration date of Jan. 1, 2020. The airline’s name remained on the building until 2021.
