Florida International University’s football program plays in a 20,000 seat stadium in Miami. Recently, the university has been on the lookout for a new naming rights sponsor for the building — it is presently known as FIU Stadium after previously being known as Riccardo Silva Stadium from 2017-22, named after the Miami FC owner who wrote a check to take care of renovations. College football is, truly, an insane sport.
Anyway, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN, the stadium has a new sponsor, and once again, an individual’s name will be on it. This time, that person is Pitbull, the artist and Miami native who is affectionately known as Mr. 305. The stadium will be known going forward as Pitbull Stadium.
International recording artist Pitbull is purchasing the naming rights to FIU’s football stadium. He’s expected to pay the school $1.2 million per year for the next five years to change the name of FIU Stadium to Pitbull Stadium, per FIU board documents. pic.twitter.com/uv0AQ6mxAQ
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 6, 2024
Thamel went on to report what both sides will get out of this deal, and the stipulations are pretty incredible.
As part of the deal, according to the documents, Pitbull will create an anthem for FIU, post about the school on social media 12 times a year and appear at one athletics fundraising event per year throughout the term of the agreement.
Pitbull will get use of the stadium 10 days per year throughout the term of the deal and the vodka company he owns will be the preferred brand distributed in the stadium. There’s also perks like two reserved suites for all home football games.
To return to something I said earlier: College football really is an insane sport. FIU football, which has only been a program since 2002, is coming off of back-to-back 4-8 campaigns, and has not made it to a bowl game since 2019. They’re currently coached by Miami native Mike McIntyre, who has been at the helm since 2022 and is well-known for his stints as the head football coach at San Jose State and Colorado. It is unclear if Pitbull has ever gone to an FIU game, but I hope he does sooner rather than later.