General Assignment Reporter, HuffPost
Fans slammed the renaming of Staples Center in Los Angeles to Crypto.com Arena, which was announced on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old Staples Center is home to the NBA’s Lakers, as well as the Clippers, the NHL’s Kings and the WNBA’s Sparks. On Christmas Day, the venue will officially change its name under a $700 million deal with the Singapore-based cryptocurrency platform, according to The Associated Press.
Many on Twitter said they’ll continue calling it Staples Center ― “as long as I’m on this earth,” one fan vowed.
Some of the L.A. sports faithful, including Kobe Bryant’s widow Vanessa, insisted the arena will always be “The House That Kobe Built.” Bryant led the Lakers to five NBA championships in the building and he was memorialized there after his death in a 2020 helicopter crash.
New name be damned:
The only name name the Staples Center should do is calling it Kobe Bryant Arena. It’s the house Kobe Built!
BREAKING: Staples Center will be renamed https://t.co/MRFVQEhfcV Arena pic.twitter.com/1PYf9ZK7f0
Calling it the Staples Center for as long as I’m on this earth 🙏
The house that Kobe Bryant built 🐐
Vanessa Bryant’s response to news of the Staples Center name change. pic.twitter.com/hV1t1G2OEM
The house that Kobe built (Staples Center) is gonna called “https://t.co/KjhKn4rAXt Arena”?
Yuck! pic.twitter.com/8kwCeSspWj
Staples Center will forever be known as ‘The House That Kobe Built’ 💜💛🐍 pic.twitter.com/iirjxGYtUs
Its Mama named him Staples Center so I’m going to call it Staples Center https://t.co/33jcuC0gUJ pic.twitter.com/fCD1YHFyKX
Staples Center … forever 🥺 pic.twitter.com/3MB9epkwaW
Staples Center is now going to be called https://t.co/SnM3qgF1QM Arena… this is actually disgusting
General Assignment Reporter, HuffPost