It was widely reported about the interwebs on Friday, September 13 that BangBros had bid $10 million for the naming rights for Miami Stadium.
RL Johnson of FM96.9 TheGame wrote that, “After American Airlines declined to renew their deal last year, a bidding war has begun heating up.”
“As companies nail the naming rights for the American Airlines Arena (the AAA), one company you may not expect has stepped up to offer $10 million to rename the arena,” Johnson continued. “BangBros, a Miami-based adult entertainment website, tweeted on Thursday they’d submitted a multi-million dollar bid to officially rename The AAA to the BangBros Center, or The BBC, for the next ten years.”
On September 12, BangBros wrote via @BangBrosDotCom1:
“We’ve officially Submitted our $10,000,000 bid for the naming rights to the Miami Heat Arena. We wish to thank American Airlines for their past support of the @MiamiHEAT We intend to change the name to the BangBros Center aka ‘The BBC’ #BangBrosCares”
The internet frenzy began subsequently.
https://twitter.com/BangBrosDotCom1/status/1172216456563560448
Among many many others, the story was also reported via Complex, Fox News and even Heat Nation, which sounds extra legit.
Now, given BangBros’ and their ilk’s love of stunt PR, as well as the sassy and clever date all this was reported on, I immediately figured this was some sort of joke. Apparently, however, it’s one hundred percent serious.
According to GMR Marketing, it costs an average of $6.5 million per year to hold stadium naming rights in a “Big Four” professional league. Fox News, however, reported that American Airlines only pays $2 million annually for the naming rights to the county-owned arena. This means that BangBros has put in a fair bid for a solid five years of BBC Heat.
Now, obviously, The BBC — or, what to me sounds better, The BBC Center (I know, I know, the extra “C” is redundant) — will never come to pass.
In addition to a litany of other reasons, according to Fox News, “Miami-Dade County has rules guiding contracts and sponsorships to ensure they are family-friendly businesses.” BangBros, as a porn production company, is not generally regarded as “family friendly.” Given the number of deaths that have occurred on American Airlines’ flights though, I’m not sure they are exactly “family friendly” either.
Regardless, in spite of its total improbability and my general hatred of industry-borne stunt PR, I hereby vow to attend every single Heat game held at The BBC Center, be it to come to pass. Fingers crossed!
