It looks like the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury won’t be playing in US Airways Center next season.
The Arizona Republic reports that American Airlines, which merged with US Airways, will not renew the naming rights with the expectation that the US Airways named will be phased out. US Airways’ 10-year contract, which began in 2005 after the merger of America West Airlines and US Airways, runs through Oct. 2015, but the airlines say the Phoenix Suns, which manages the arena, have the option to seek a new sponsor before then, the Republic report said.
US Airways Center opened in 1992 and is the home of the Suns, Mercury and Arizona Rattlers. The arena was known from its opening until 2006 as America West Arena, with naming rights having been sold to Tempe-based America West Airlines. In 2005, America West purchased rival carrier US Airways and assumed its name, with the naming rights agreement carried with it. The venue adopted its current name in 2006 after a rebranding, and is the second arena that US Airways has owned the naming rights for after Washington, DC’s Capital Centre, which was known as US Airways Arena from 1996 until 1997 after the company, which had been known as USAir prior to that, rebranded.
