Pitbull buys sports stadium naming rights

Mr. Worldwide is striking a local naming rights deal. Miami-based Florida International University’s board of trustees voted Tuesday to rebrand their football stadium, currently known as FIU Stadium, to “Pitbull Stadium” on a 10-year deal. That’s after rapper and singer Armando Christian “Pitbull” Pérez.

Pérez was born in Miami, grew up there, still lives there, and goes by “Mr. 305″ after the city’s area code. And he had a lot of praise for the Panthers in a release on this, which hypes this up as ” the world’s first-ever athletics venue with an artist possessing the naming rights.” The release also features school officials talking about why this partnership makes sense:

“This partnership with FIU is a true honor and a testament to what we can achieve when we work hard,” said Armando Christian Perez (Pitbull). “Renaming the stadium isn’t just about a name change. It’s about inspiring the community, creating opportunities and showing the world that with determination and a clear vision, anything is possible. We’re making history together, and we’re just getting started. Why dream when you can live it?”

… “Pitbull’s career trajectory mirrors FIU’s ascent as one of the nation’s top public research universities,” said FIU President Kenneth A. Jessell. “Like FIU, he started out very 305 and became worldwide.”

The partnership also marks Pitbull’s participation in FIU football’s Vice Night, featuring Miami-style colors and merchandise, with the Panthers donning their nationally acclaimed Vice uniform. This year’s game – which will feature a new Vice uniform – will take place on Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m. against Sam Houston State and will be broadcast across the country on ESPNU.

“This is a historic day for FIU Athletics to uniquely partner with a world-renowned artist and amazing person who truly values relationships and his community,” FIU Director of Athletics Scott Carr commented. “Armando’s financial support is program-changing, but him providing a microphone to amplify FIU will be even more beneficial to growing our brand. I couldn’t be more excited about our partnership as this will take us to another level. We can now officially say: ‘Paws Up, Dale!'”

This deal’s quite interesting from a number of levels, including with it being a rare stadium title sponsorship where the sponsor will be involved on the entertainment side (in Pérez’s case, with performances at select events like “Vice Night”). And while partnering with a specific celebrity rather than a brand carries risk (see the fallout from the Army-Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson-UFL deal), Pérez’s specific connections to Miami as a city and to and FIU in particular seem to make this make sense. And he’s been well-known for his sports involvement over the years, including a performance at the WNBA All-Star Game this year and another one at Texas’ celebration of their admission to the SEC . In this current era, too, there certainly could be some recruiting wins for the Panthers by telling prospects they’ll play at “Pitbull Stadium” and perhaps get to meet Pérez.

It’s also notable that FIU is doing the frequently-seen sponsorship move of doubling down, taking both a stadium title sponsor and then a different sponsor for the field itself. The field itself will be “South Dade Kia Field at Pitbull Stadium.” How often that actually gets referenced beyond the school’s website remains to be seen, but hey, South Dade Kia has managed to tie themselves to a stadium that’s going to get a lot more media mentions and attention than the average. We’ll see how this works out for them, FIU, and Pérez.

[ FIUSports.com ]

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