A Miami-based porn website on Thursday announced that it has submitted a $10 million bid for naming rights for the former American Airlines Arena, home to the Miami Heat.
{mosads}BangBros.com said that it entered the bidding war with a submission to rename the venue BangBros Center or BBC for 10 years.
“Miami is known for many things — South Beach, beautiful women and sports teams like the professional NBA team the Miami Heat,” the adult website wrote on Twitter. “So it makes sense to pair up winning programs like the Miami Heat and BangBros for a sponsorship opportunity, naming the home arena they play in.”
The venue, known as the AA Arena, has been the site of the NBA team since it was built in 1999.
American Airlines, the largest airline in Miami, announced in September that it was no longer looking to renew its sponsorship with the facility when it expires on Dec. 31 the Miami Herald reported.
“American Airlines is proud to call Miami home. We are not seeking to renew naming rights for the arena, but remain the official airline of the Miami Heat and continue to invest in programs that support the community, where 13,500 American team members live and work,” said Alexis Aran Coello, communications manager for the Texas-based airline. “We wish Miami-Dade County well in their search for a new sponsor.”
The arena is owned by Miami-Dade County and costs the county about $5.5 million a year in subsidies and the county receives barely any of the revenue from the $2 million each year that American currently pays the Heat.
The porn site’s offer would give them naming rights to the arena for a decade, at $1 million a year.
However, county consultants told the Herald last year that they expect the sponsorship to be at least triple the $2 million American deal, making the BangBros’s offer unlikely to be accepted.
“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 Miami Heat said in a statement to the newspaper.