Goodbye, Staples; hello, Crypto.

Anschutz Entertainment Group announced today that it will rename Staples Center, the downtown Los Angeles home of the Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks, to Crypto.com Arena. The new deal, which takes effect on December 25, ends a 22-year partnership with the office supply retailer in favor of a 20-year deal with the cryptocurrency exchange.

“We are very excited to partner with AEG and invest for the long term in this city, starting with Crypto.com Arena in the heart of downtown and using our platform in new and creative ways. so that cryptocurrency can power the world-class future. sports, entertainment and technology for fans in Los Angeles and around the world, ”Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said in a press release.

The deal came just over 12 hours after another LA icon, angel freak Shohei Ohtani, signed his own partnership with the FTX crypto exchange. Financial terms of the two agreements were not disclosed. However, the Los Angeles Times and Axes report that the total value of the Crypto.com deal could exceed $ 700 million.

The two pacts are the latest in a string of costly deals the two rivals have reached at a combined cost of around $ 760 million, money teams and leagues are eager to take as they try to recoup loss of income caused by the pandemic.

“I think this is happening everywhere – more and more people are interested in crypto,” wrote FTX Founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the richest self-taught newcomer in Forbes history. 400, in an April email to Forbes. “But the athletes are very high profile and among the easiest to see.”

Bankman-Fried, the son of two Stanford law professors and an MIT graduate, first ventured into crypto in late 2017 after spotting a lucrative arbitrage opportunity. Two years later he founded FTX in Hong Kong and eventually moved the head office to the Bahamas. The company has since grown into a leading exchange for buying and selling crypto derivatives. Marszalek founded the Monaco crypto payment platform in 2016, before its rebranding to Crypto.com in 2018. The Singapore-based company now has more than 10 million customers.

Over the past year, FTX has lost at least $ 360 million on naming rights and approval deals, including signing this week of Ohtani, which multiple outlets say will be paid in crypto. -cash. He also made deals with Tom Brady and Stephen Curry as brand ambassadors, which would apparently give them equity in the business. Additionally, FTX has naming rights agreements with the Miami Heat, the UC Berkeley football team, and the TSM esports organization. Crypto.com spent at least $ 400 million to secure partnerships with Philadelphia 76ers, Paris Saint-Germain, Montreal Canadiens, Fnatic esports team, Major League Baseball, UFC, Formula 1, Serie A and the Twitch Rivals tournament, according to Forbes estimates.

And they are not alone. Coinbase agreed to become the exclusive partner of the NBA cryptocurrency platform in October at an undisclosed price. Algorand, another platform, lost $ 100 million on a five-year Drone Racing League sponsorship in September, according to CNBC.

“There is a big world out there,” Bankman-Fried said Forbes in October. “We shouldn’t think that crypto will be the most fertile ground for working forever.”