Pete Thamel, ESPN
International recording artist Pitbull has purchased the naming rights to Florida International’s football stadium, it was announced Tuesday.
The FIU Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve a five-year agreement to name what is currently known as FIU Stadium after Pitbull Stadium.
Pitbull will pay the school $1.2 million a year for five years, according to voting records. The rapper, singer and businessman, whose real name is Armando Christian Perez, is also known as “Mr. 305” — a nod to Miami’s area code — and attended Miami Coral Park High School.
“For me, it all comes down to this: Miami is always known for being an underdog, no matter what we do and what level we take it to,” Pitbull said. “… Being an underdog is what I’ve always felt about FIU — fighting, fighting your way to be seen, to be recognized, whether it’s in education, business, through sports.
“So when this idea came, it came just like the idea of the 305 in Miami-Dade County: Nobody believed in it. … All we had to do was, as they say in Miami, implement it.”
The Miami-based university becomes the first to have a college athletics building named after a musician.
“What we’re doing here is revolutionary. We’re making history. This is history being made,” Pitbull said. “You’ll see that every other university will want to do the same thing. But the difference is that we’re not doing it for propaganda, we’re doing it from the heart. We’re doing it because it’s important. We’re doing it because I come from the cradle. I’m 305. I come from the bottom. This is my backyard.”
The deal includes an option for Pitbull to renew the agreement for five additional years.
As part of the deal, according to FIU board documents, Pitbull will create an anthem for FIU, post about the school on social media 12 times a year and appear at one athletic fundraising event per year for the duration of the deal.
Pitbull will be able to use the stadium 10 days a year for the duration of the contract and the vodka company he owns will be the preferred brand distributed in the stadium. There will also be perks like two reserved boxes for all home football games.
The stadium has a seating capacity of 20,000, according to the FIU website, and opened in 1995.
FIU has been playing football since 2002 and has been in the FBS since 2004. They have played in five bowl games in school history, have not had a winning season since 2018 and are coming off two straight 4-8 seasons under coach Mike MacIntyre.
The Panthers will host Central Michigan on Sept. 7 for the first game at Pitbull Stadium.
