FAU's $5M naming-rights deal with Roofclaim.com for the school's basketball arena has been "killed" following the "last-minute political strong-arming that recently nixed" UCF's deal with the same company for the naming rights to the field at Spectrum Stadium, according to Mike Bianchi of the ORLANDO SENTINEL. FAU in a statement said it was in the two parties' "mutual best interests to terminate" the deal, which was announced in late December. Sources said that the "influential insurance industry and several prominent state politicians intervened behind the scenes to cancel" both deals for FAU and UCF. Sources also said that both FAU AD Brian White and UCF AD Danny White, who are brothers, "are 'upset' and 'livid' that their staffs worked so diligently to negotiate" the agreements, only to see them rejected later. Bianchi notes it is "no secret UCF's and FAU's corporate partnerships with Roofclaim.com are the impetus for a controversial bill introduced" at the Florida State Capitol last month "that would give the Legislature final approval on whether a sports stadium or arena at a public university can be branded after a company willing to pay for the naming rights" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 2/5).
