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.

Matt Brown @MattBrownEP

Statement from Cal athletics, just sent to Extra Points: "LEARFIELD’s Cal Bears Sports Properties, working in collaboration with Cal Athletics, has suspended the FTX naming rights sponsorship with Cal Athletics."

The signage has been removed from Memorial Stadium Field, which had been named FTX Field for 2021 and 2022.

Jeremy Fiance @jfiance

the @FTX_Official logo is now a 🐻 as of today thankfully Cal was already doing some field work for #BigGame125 hopefully that saved @CalFootball some 🫰💸

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!