FIELDS OF SCHEMES

When naming rights go wrong, they put a startup's calamities in bright lights and an entrepreneur's legacy in the hall of shame.

- BILL SHAPIRO

When L.A.'s pleasantly alliterative Staples Center was VV renamed the goth-tinged Crypto.com Arena in late 2021, some fans considered it an upgrade. After all, the $700 million deal meant LeBron's house would no longer be sponsored by the purveyor of Post-its—but by one of the hottest startups in the rapidly growing crypto economy. Crypto.com has signed deals with sports teams (Paris Saint-Germain) and leagues (Serie A, F1) across the globe-a strategy designed to quickly spread brand recognition. And yet longtime stadium-name watchers remain cautiously pessimistic. After all, pricey, vanity-plate naming deals often speak to a company's more-money-than-brains mindset, which in turn can foreshadow a financial nosedive. Or worse. Behold the venues that gave sponsorship a bad name. -BILL SHAPIRO

Enron Gets Called for a Balk