Judge ends Miami-Dade's naming rights deal with FTX over Heat arena

Miami-Dade County is finally cutting ties with FTX, the disgraced cryptocurrency exchange that has owned the naming rights to the Miami Heat arena for roughly two years.

Driving the news: A federal bankruptcy judge yesterday terminated the sponsorship agreement between FTX and Miami-Dade County, which owns the downtown arena, the Miami Herald reports.

• Until a new sponsor is found, the Heat's house will be known simply as "the Arena," a county spokesperson told the Herald.

Catch up fast: The county and Heat announced their intention to cancel the 19-year, $135 million deal back in November after FTX filed for bankruptcy and founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned.

• Bankman-Fried was arrested in December on charges including wire fraud, commodities fraud and securities-fraud conspiracy.
• FTX's lawyers recently filed a motion to cancel the arena agreement, among other deals.

What we're watching: The court order issued yesterday says the county plans to remove FTX's logos from the arena. But that's unlikely to happen soon since the Heat are still in regular season and such removals take time, the Herald reports.

• The Heat and the county have also said they would look for a new naming sponsor for the stadium, which had been known as the American Airlines Arena from 1999 to 2021 until the county ended the sponsorship.