REPORT: Cal ends partnership with FTX, removes logo from Memorial Stadium field
More naming rights turmoil.
In advance of the 125th Big Game (which sold out!), some sponsorship news. There will be no more FTX anywhere at Cal. The sponsorship appears to be at an end.
The signage has been removed from Memorial Stadium Field, which had been named FTX Field for 2021 and 2022.
FTX, as you might know from the news, was one of the world's largest cryptocurrency platforms on the Internet, and had a decade-long deal signed with Cal Athletics. That came to an end when FTX filed for bankruptcy last week and the company found itself under federal investigation.
Cal started the partnership at the beginning of the 2021-22 season with a ten-year deal worth $17.5 million, which was paid out to Learfield entirely in crypto. It is my understanding that that crypto was then converted into cash that was then sent to Cal.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, those payments were annual, so Cal should have received at least around $3 to $3.5 million of that $17.5 million as we're about 2 years into the contract. It's unclear if Learfield has converted the full lump sum of $17.5 million into cash by this point and whether Cal will receive the rest of the payments. More details will likely trickle out in the coming months.
This is the second naming rights partner that has not made it the course with Memorial Stadium turf. Cal signed a deal with Kabam to rename the field Kabam Field, but Kabam was eventually acquired before completion of the deal.
For, now it’s all about the Bears again on Memorial!
All we need now is to end our partnerships with Mark Fox and Jim Knowlton
SHOUD THE NEW TITLE BE.. "FIX"? GERBEAR