Florida International University has always been the little brother, whether it was when they lost to FAU by 40 points in the Shura Bowl or when people recognized them as an actual university in Miami, FIU was always the underdog in these battles.
That is until today, when FIU announced it had signed rapper Pitbull and would name its football stadium after Mr. Worldwide.
The contract calls for paying the university $1.2 million annually for the next five years, and the stadium will be called Pit Bull Stadium. The Athletic’s Chris VanniniThe rapper will be involved in various promotional tools and initiatives with FIU, including:
- An FIU anthem by Pitbull (I expect it will be similar to his hit song “Fireball”
- Pitbull named official entrepreneur of FIU sports (not sure what that means)
- “Pit Bull related performers” at every match (I don’t know, but I’m sure)
- He will be allowed to use the stadium for up to 10 days per year.
- Win two suites at every football game
That’s a pretty impressive perk for a $5 million-plus deal, but it still raises a lot of questions: What does it mean to be an official entrepreneur? The anthem has to be really good, or this whole thing is invalid.
FIU being FIU, this is kind of cool. I like that they’re trying so hard to be a real Miami school and not just another college in Coral Gables. Hopefully this will bring more people to the stadium, which is something that’s hard to do with a football team.
Could Pit Bull turn a song called “Hotel Room Service” into “Football Stadium Service”? Maybe “I Know You Want Me” is about the Panthers wanting the ball. There are a lot of possibilities in the Pit Bull world.
FIU can’t screw this up or the game will fizzle and people will be yelling “Timber (sorry).”
