Pyramid succeeds despite shaky start

It hasn't tackled problems like famine and locust but it has survived plague's of Cal State Long Beach-proportion like pessimism, optimism, deluges of rain, flooding and leaks. But at long last, 49er Athletics has a place it can call its own-The Pyramid.

Once a symbol of a civilized Egyptian society, The Pyramid is now the pride and joy of the CSULB athletic department and even with its flaws, you would be hard pressed to find someone who would trade it in now.

"The Pyramid has had the same effect on the community as it has on the students," associate athletic director Bill Husak said. "It is a social happening. I have people from the community who haven't seen us play in years and all they can talk about is what an event it is."

"This year if you got up out of your seat during a game, you missed something," Husak continued. "You may have seen some friends along the way, but you missed something."

And its not done yet. While the athletic department has assumed custody of its surrogate child, it is contingent upon other things, like fixing the leaks in the roof to start with.

During January, Southern California was hit with more than ten inches of rain. CSULB experienced flooding problems all over campus and while The Pyramid escaped relatively unscathed, it did have some close calls.

"All things can be fixed," Associate Athletic Director Bill Husak said. "Never as an athletic department have we ever had a facility like this."

Several games were almost forced out of the facility, but none were moved, when heavy rains threatened. That was a good thing for the athletic department because they had sold more than 3,000 season tickets and a move to The Gold Mine would have been a public relations disaster.

Somebody would have been left out in the cold as the maximum capacity for The Gold Mine is 1,900. The only alternative would have been the Long Beach Arena and that would have caused financial headaches for a department trying to make and save money, not spend it.

"We would have to sell five-to-six thousand seats at the Long Beach Arena to make the same amount of money as drawing 2,000 people at The Gold Mine," Husak said while he explained why CSULB moved back on campus from the Long Beach Arena several years ago.

"And our attendance numbers at that time were not high enough to justify playing at the Long Beach Arena."

Husak speculated that the athletic department could make almost $20,000 a game from parking, concession and ticket revenue every time The Pyramid is a sellout.

As opposed to the Long Beach Arena where CSULB would only have received money from ticket revenue. The Long Beach Arena keeps parking and concessions money.

Husak said the completion of office space in The Pyramid should be finished by the start of the fall semester. He said that the weight room and fitness center have opened for physical education classes but that it probably will not open until June.