In 1999, PSINet signed a naming rights agreement for the home of the Baltimore Ravens until it filed for bankruptcy in 2002. It’s now called M&T Bank Stadium.
PSINet, a telecommunications company, struggled with its debt load, an unfocused business plan, and the pressures of over-expansion.
In 2006, Verizon purchased MCI and changed the name of the arena to Verizon Center after 9 years as MCI Center. Now it’s called Capital One Arena and is the home arena for the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals, and Georgetown University’s men’s basketball team.
MCI filed for bankruptcy in 2002 after an accounting scandal in which several executives were convicted of a scheme to inflate the company’s assets.
In 2000, CMGI signed a 15 year, $114 million deal for the naming rights for the New England Patriots’ stadium.
CMGI, whose vastly depreciated Internet holdings made it a poster child for the failed dot.com era, transitioned it’s naming rights to Gillette.
In 1999, Enron paid $100 million over 30 years to name the Houston Astros ballpark. After the Enron scandal of 2001, the Astros and the bankrupt Enron came to an agreement to end the deal and rename the stadium in February 2002, which is now called Minute Maid Park.
In 2007, Enron hid mountains of debt and toxic assets from regulators and investors using a combination of shell companies (special purpose entities), creative revenue recognition, aggressive mark to market practices, and outright fraud. None of this would have been possible without compromising the two parties in charge of their governance and oversight, their Board of Directors and their Audit Partner, Arthur Andersen. Enron didn’t have effective board oversight because the board relied on data from the executive team and never once sought independent validation or forensic analysis of the increasingly complex organization they oversaw. The company peaked at a $70B market cap and 30K employees. Top executives were paid $55M in bonuses and cashed in $116M in stock, while employees lost $1.2B in retirement funds.
Trans World Dome, which hosts concerts, major conventions, and sporting events in St Louis, ended the naming rights in 2001 when TWA was acquired by American Airlines, who already had its name on two NBA/NHL venues in Dallas and Miami. The arena, which lost the St. Louis Rams, is now called the Dome at America’s Center.
In 2001, TWA flew its final flight. The company was sold to American Airlines after decades of saddling debt. In 1991, the company was forced to sell its lucrative London routes — accelerating their demise.
In 2021, Chesapeake Energy terminated its 12 year arena naming rights agreement with the Oklahoma Thunder two years early leading to the new name of Paycom Center.
In 2020, the company filed for bankruptcy protection with $7 billion in debt.
In 2010, Wachovia Center changed the name of the 21,000-seat home of the Flyers and 76ers to the Wells Fargo Center.
Exposed to risky loans, such as adjustable rate mortgages, Wachovia began to experience heavy losses in its loan portfolios during the subprime mortgage crisis. Once Washington Mutual was seized, Wachovia immediately lost a total of $5 billion in deposits. Federal regulators pressured Wachovia to put itself up for sale over the weekend leading to its sale to Wells Fargo in 2008.
In March 2021, FTX acquired the naming rights to Miami Heat’s arena in a $135 million, 19-year agreement. As part of the 2022 bankruptcy of FTX, the naming rights agreement was terminated effective January 2023 and is now named Kaseya Center.
FTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, once valued at $32B in January 2022, scammed billions from crypto-currency users. FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, after a surge of customer withdrawals earlier in the month. The company didn’t have sufficient assets in reserve to meet customer demand. FTX crashed due to mismanagement of funds, lack of liquidity and the large volume of withdrawals.
Nikola is among a group of EV and mobility startups that went public via mergers with special purpose acquisition companies before generating revenue, never mind being profitable. Many of these, notably Nikola, were swept up in the meme stock craze during the pandemic and saw shares — and market cap — jump into the stratosphere. All of these stocks have come crashing back down to earth, leaving EV SPACs like Nikola scrambling for cash.
In 2015, Fab.com, a design-focused e-commerce site, sold to PCH for $15M after it had raised $469M and peaked at a $1.3B valuation. Fab featured and sold third-party items from small design shops all over the world using a flash-sales model. To counteract potential competition, Fab spent $100M to expand into Europe before they built a repeatable model in the US. In addition, they moved away from their core of flash-sales leading to buying a warehouse to hold inventory, greatly expanding their SKUs, and creating their own products.
