The home venue for the Phoenix Suns and Mercury is getting a new name.
The Footprint Center signage outside the downtown arena disappeared Tuesday morning.
The original naming rights deal with Footprint, a plant-based engineering company based in Gilbert, was a 10-year pact, but its sponsorship arrangement with the teams has changed. Footprint will continue as official sustainability partner of the Suns and Mercury, but will no longer hold the arena naming rights, according to a statement from a Suns spokesperson.
In the meantime, the building will be temporarily called PHX Arena. The venue has been renamed numerous times since it first opened in 1992. It has been known as America West Arena, US Airways Center, Talking Stick Resort Arena and Phoenix Suns Arena.
The 18,000-seat venue, located on Jefferson Street between Second and Third streets, hosts more than a million visitors yearly for not only basketball games, but concerts, ice shows, private events and other entertainment. Footprint Center hosted the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game and is set to welcome the 2026 Women’s Final Four and 2027 NBA All-Star weekend.
Cronkite News reporter Jackson Shaw contributed to this report.
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