Hello and welcome to your Wednesday FOIAbites. Did you know this is the 50th newsletter I’ve written?
FOIAball launched back in September and I’ve already published more stories than pretty much every new hire made by The Atlantic in the past two years. Combined.
That’s a little inside media shade for you. They don’t work hard and make lots of money. I, on the other hand… Well, you know what spiel is about to follow, so let’s skip that today.
EDIT: Let’s not skip the spiel! I took the paywall down on this, so just a quick plug that these stories can only be produced thanks to our paid subscribers. Become one today. It’s just a dollar for your first month!
Instead, let’s talk about Pitbull.
Is Pitbull in breach of contract?
Today is March 25; we are 84 days into 2026. In that time, global pop icon Pitbull has posted Instagrams that pay tribute to:
St. Patrick’s Day: “Happy St PITrick’s Day 🍀 Daleee”
305 Day: “Happy 3️⃣0️⃣5️⃣ day, daleee”
International Women's Day: “Women are the most powerful thing on earth”
The singer has also shouted out the concept of Spring Break, Fortnite’s addition of a “Fireball” emote, an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people wearing bald caps, cheerleaders, and the concept, generally, of love. (“The most powerful thing in life is LOVE,” an honorific he seems to have forgotten he already bestowed upon women.)
What Pitbull has not posted about this year is Florida International University.
Despite his contract with the school calling for it.
In August 2024, FIU earned a few days of fawning press when it announced its home field would be rechristened Pitbull Stadium.
Why? I mean, your guess is as good as mine. FIU is based in Miami and Pitbull is known for his love of the city, adopting its area code as one of his monikers.
According to a copy of the contract with Mr. 305, obtained by FOIAball, Pitbull is paying the school $6 million over five years for the naming rights.
The deal’s highlights were perfect internet fodder. Not only would Pitbull be named the "Official Entrepreneur of FIU Athletics,” he’d frequently plug the school to his massive online following (over 50 million on Facebook, 17 million on YouTube, and 12 million on Instagram). He would also create an "FIU Anthem" to blast during games.
Now, far be it from me to besmirch the honor of a man who dropped a collab with Chris Brown two years after Brown assaulted Rihanna, but Pitbull doesn’t appear to be holding up any part of the bargain.
(Fun fact I learned: Brown was banned from traveling to the U.K. when “International Love” came out.)
Under “Schedule 5, Promotional Activities,” the agreement states Pitbull is expected to make “Twelve (12) total social media posts per year via all relevant Celebrity social media accounts.”
The language for all the items outlined isn’t technically binding, but Pitbull’s lack of follow-through is glaring.
As we noted, there’s nothing on his Instagram for 2026. So FOIAball scrolled through his entire page. Yes, I looked through 330 Pitbull posts. Dale to me.
In 2025, there were plugs for his joint track with Bon Jovi, his performance with Tim McGraw, his new Apple Maps Guide to Miami, St. PITrick’s Day (again), and nothing about FIU.
Pitbull posted plenty when the deal launched in 2024… sort of. His feed highlighted the deal, but most posts were collaborations he was tagged in, like from the Miami Herald, ESPN, and local influencers.
When Pitbull shared clips addressing the team, he didn’t mention FIU in the captions or tag the school. If you want to count only posts he made with an explicit reference, that would be one. Since the deal launched.
It’s not like he’s averse to sharing news about himself. Two months after the announcement, he posted four times about the “OMG” remix he made for the Mets’ postseason run.
His TikTok and Facebook pages basically mirror his Instagram Reels tab. Barren, too.
Okay, well, what about Twitter? Well, Pitbull has tweeted about football going down in the 305 this year.
“DAMN I LOVE MIAMI,” he wrote after the Miami Hurricanes made the CFP championship game.
In 2025, he also wrote “DAMN I LOVE MIAMI,” this time tagging FIU. That post was about the school’s game against Florida Atlantic. That’s it for last year.
In 2024, even if you want to count his retweets, he still fell well short of the requested number.
Heck, we even checked his LinkedIn. Yes, Pitbull posts under his real name on LinkedIn. That would be a great forum to talk about your deal-making skills. Nope.
Look, it’s social media, it’s whatever. All could be forgiven if he followed through on another clause.
FIU football has now played two full seasons since the partnership began, almost halfway through the deal.
In that time, Pitbull released an entire album, a remix of Freak Nasty’s “Da Dip” (it’s good), a collab with Lil Jon, and dropped verses on several other tracks.
But there is no FIU Anthem.
Check his YouTube. Check FIU’s. Check Twitter. Find a single FIU student rocking out to it on TikTok. Instead, Pitbull is releasing anthems for other sports. In June 2025, he unveiled a cover of “We Will Rock You” for the FIFA Club Cup.
So, FOIAball asks, “Where is Panther Anthem?”
It seems he only (kind of) held up one aspect of the deal. The school produced co-branded merch for the launch, which Pitbull shared on his apparel site.
The only items still available from FIU are a tee shirt and a moisture-wicking Mr. 305 polo. The FIU tab on Pitbull’s site is gone.
He did do a merch drop for a Miami-based football team this year, but, like his tweet, that was a line of clothes for the Hurricanes.
Pitbull was also expected to wear FIU gear at concerts and feature “FIU assets” in his music videos.
His new joint with Lil Jon was ripe for FIU plugs. The song is called, much like his tweets, “Damn I Love Miami.” There’s plenty of Miami-themed apparel in it, such as … Miami Hurricanes jerseys and Miami Hurricanes Starter jackets.
The deal was supposed to bring in high-end, Pitbull-affiliated performers for halftime and post-game shows. It allowed Pitbull to book the stadium up to ten times a year for concerts of his choice.
The stadium has no events planned for the next three months. If there was ever a big halftime show or concert, there isn’t a record of it on Google.
Then again, FIU might not be holding up its end of the bargain.
A weekly branded social media feature for the athletics department seems to have never materialized. Pitbull is supposed to be featured in banner ads on the department websites for the length of the deal. He’s not there.
When the FIU student paper asked the university about the matter after Pitbull didn’t show up to Vice Night in October 2025, the school declined to comment on the relationship.
It’s not like the university is going to complain. It’s getting the money regardless. Or, is it?
Florida university athletic departments are notoriously shielded from records requests, so we couldn’t obtain proof of those payments if we wanted. But Pitbull’s apparent lack of interest in the deal sure makes me wonder.
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Pitbull via Pitbull/YouTube; Roary via FIU/TikTok
