Pitbull Names FIU Stadium: Who’s Got Next?

Miami-born recording artist Pitbull and Florida International University have announced a naming rights partnership for the school’s football stadium—by all accounts the first-ever college sports venue to be named after a musician.

The five-year, $6-million agreement is unique in many aspects, and also could open up opportunities for other facilities to explore a new breed of partnerships with celebrities and other individuals with the means to pay for top-level rights and benefits.

Naming buildings after wealthy patrons is nothing new of course, especially on college and university campuses. But as Pitbull Stadium demonstrates, in an era when well-known personalities have become brands and businesses, the motivation for and potential return from the association with athletic and other programs is massively different than the primarily philanthropic reasons of the past.

To be sure, Pitbull—Armando Christian Perez—has lived up to his “Mr. 305” moniker through numerous investments in his hometown, and the FIU deal carries his sincere interest in supporting education and raising the profile of a local academic institution.

Indeed, in addition to the $1.2 million a year it receives from its new “official entrepreneur of FIU Athletics,” the university will benefit from additional commitments by Pitbull, including creating an anthem for FIU, posting about the school on social media 12 times a year and appearing at one athletics fundraising event per year.

“Armando’s financial support is program-changing, but him providing a microphone to amplify FIU will be even more beneficial to growing our brand,” FIU athletic director Scott Carr told ESPN.

But as has been the case for corporate giving over many years, individual philanthropy is often now intertwined with business goals—creating greater similarity than ever before between donor recognition and naming rights agreements.

For example, Pitbull-owned Voli 305 Vodka will be the preferred vodka at Pitbull Stadium. Pitbull also will get use of the 20,000-seat stadium for 10 dates each year.

It’s certainly not out of the question that other artists, athletes and influencers—especially those whose brands have extended into consumer products in apparel, food and beverage, beauty and other categories—could be in line to put their names on sports and entertainment venues or title sponsor premier events.

Now that we have Pitbull Stadium, why not Ryan Reynolds Field, the Jennifer Garner Open or the Rihanna Bowl? Celebrities are not just like us, they are a new sponsorship prospect category.