What will Miami Heat home arena be called at start of 2020 with no new sponsor in place?
When the calendar flips to 2020, the Miami Heat’s home arena will begin a new decade with the same name.
With talks ongoing to find a new title sponsor at the Heat’s county-owned arena, the venue will still be called AmericanAirlines Arena even when the existing naming-rights deal with American Airlines expires Jan. 1, according to a source briefed on the situation. The current plan is for it to remain AmericanAirlines Arena until a new sponsor is in place.
Patty Hurtado de Mendoza, a spokeswoman for Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, confirmed it will remain AmericanAirlines Arena for the time being.
The Gimenez administration officially ran out of time earlier this month to have a new naming agreement approved by the County Commission before 2020, when American Airlines’ deal ends and Miami-Dade takes over sponsorship responsibility from the Heat.
The Heat declined to comment on the naming-rights talks surrounding the downtown Miami arena.
“In light of the fact that this is an open selection process administered by the Miami-Dade County government, we are not at liberty to comment,” the Heat said in a statement.
Since Miami-Dade was not able to find a new title sponsor before the existing deal with American Airlines expires Jan. 1, it will need to use county dollars to pay the Heat up to $2 million in 2020 to cover the missing naming-rights revenue. The first $500,000 quarterly payment to the Heat is due March 31, covering the first three months of the year.
In 2018, Miami-Dade chose to take on the naming-rights talks for the arena itself. With that agreement, Miami-Dade must pay the Heat $2 million per year even if a new sponsor isn’t in place or spends less.
The county’s hope is that higher fees from the new naming-rights deal will make up for what it would have earned in early 2020 under the existing payment structure with American Airlines. A county consultant last year said a new deal would be worth at least triple of the $2 million American Airlines has paid per year.
Following Friday’s home matchup against the Pacers, the Heat has just one remaining game at AmericanAirlines Arena in 2019 — Saturday against the 76ers.
A different kind of back-to-back
The Heat hosts two of the Eastern Conference’s top six teams on back-to-back nights, with Friday’s matchup against the Pacers and Saturday’s matchup against the 76ers. And Heat coach Erik Spoelstra doesn’t mind his players appreciating the importance of those two games.
“We’re not going to obsess about different games, and say one game is more meaningful than the other,” Spoelstra said. “But we also want our guys to be human and enjoy the competitive nature of the Eastern Conference this year and embrace it. The first step to doing that is to acknowledge that we’re playing two really good teams right there in the standings. That makes it fun. I think if you discredit that, you try to deflect it, say it doesn’t have meaning, I don’t know if that’s authentic and you’re not really embracing the competition.”
The Heat entered Friday with an 11-1 record in games against teams with a losing record and a 10-7 record in games against teams with a winning record this season.
Friday and Saturday’s back-to-back set at home is the first of four back-to-backs at AmericanAirlines Arena this season. The only season Miami played a higher number of home games on consecutive nights was during the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season when the Heat had seven back-to-back sets of home games.
The Heat has played home games on consecutive nights 21 previous times in franchise history, winning both games six times, splitting the pair nine times and dropping both games on six occasions.
A Miami reunion
Saturday’s 76ers-Heat game will mark the first time wing Josh Richardson has returned to play at AmericanAirlines Arena since Miami traded him to Philadelphia this past offseason. Richardson was dealt to the 76ers as part of the sign-and-trade move that brought Jimmy Butler to the Heat.
Richardson has already faced his former team two times this season, but both of those games were played in Philadelphia. He averaged 24.5 points on 53.1 percent shooting, three rebounds and five assists in his first two matchups against the Heat.
On Jan. 5, former Heat center Hassan Whiteside will return to AmericanAirlines Arena to face his old team for the first time since Miami traded him to Portland this past offseason. Whiteside was also dealt to the Trail Blazers as part of the sign-and-trade package that led to Butler joining the Heat.
▪ The Heat listed forwards Justise Winslow (lower back bone bruise) and KZ Okpala (G League assignment), and guard Daryl Macon (two-way contract) as unavailable for Friday’s game against the Pacers.
Friday marks the 10th consecutive game Winslow has missed with a back injury that is now being classified by the team as a lower back bone bruise after a recent MRI. The injury was labeled as a lower back strain before Thursday’s update.
This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 1:25 PM.
