The Pyramid symbolizes success for CSULB

By Jeanine Cardullo, On-Line Forty-Niner

Thursday, November 12, 1998

The great pyramids of ancient Egypt provided that land with a symbol of instant recognition. Perhaps a modern day, cobalt-blue pyramid that reaches 192 feet into the sky will do the same for Cal State Long Beach.

Twenty years in the planning, The Pyramid opened its doors in the fall of 1994. Reviewing its four years of operational history, there is evidence that despite unforeseen pitfalls, The Pyramid has more than done its job in creating a symbol representative of CSULB, President Robert Maxson said.

"The Pyramid is like an attitude, a symbol," Maxson said. When you look at The Pyramid it is futuristic, modern, and bold - and that's the way I think Cal State Long Beach is."

Despite becoming a well-known symbol, The Pyramid still lacks completion of internal offices and completion of payment.

The original budget for The Pyramid was $22 million, $11 million of which was funded by the state to facilitate classes taught there in the morning. The 49er athletic department is still approximately $2.5 million in debt, which will be paid over a 9- to 10-year period, or until CSULB secures a sponsor to name the structure after. The funding from a sponsor would effectively retire the department's debt.

"Probably the biggest frustration with the facility is that in its fifth year of operation, we have not yet gotten a named sponsor for it," William Shumard, director of athletics, said.

Cal State Long Beach has been in contact with over 100 corporations over a five-year time period, none of which have reached fruition. The price tag for sponsorship is $3 million. Shumard says this is reasonable because CSULB's facility is one of only three pyramid structures existing in the United States today (the Luxor, in Las Vegas, and the Arena, in Memphis, Tenn., round out the three.) It is also the only pyramid structure located on a campus.

The withdrawal of the Stingrays earlier in the year was cause for concern from a financial aspect, but according to Maxson there was no other fallout.

Fund-raising efforts have met with ups and downs as well.

Frog's Gym, located within The Pyramid, has not brought in quite the amount of profit hoped, Shumard said. The idea of holding music concerts failed with the realization of poor acoustics. However, not anticipated was the intense interest Hollywood would show when The Pyramid became available for filming opportunities, and the added income was a pleasant surprise.

Super Dave, star of the film of the same name, was shot out of a cannon in The Pyramid last April. The film will be coming to theaters within the next six months. Jason Kidd filmed a Nike commercial in the structure last week, and a deal with Neiman-Marcus is in the planning stage, Mark Edrington, general manager of The Pyramid, said.

This particular opportunity for revenue would seem to have potentially detrimental effects on the athletics programs if filming times were to contradict game times.

To prevent this, Shumard set the standard that students have absolute priority. In a four-year period, a men's basketball game was rerouted to The Gold Mine just one time, and that was by choice of the team. All other games were played in The Pyramid.

"We've always had wonderful coaches and wonderful teams, but they were playing in these cracker-box rooms," Shumard said. "This (The Pyramid) has taken our athletic program to a whole new level."

Differing from the original plan, the number of seats to be included in The Pyramid has been downsized from an original 7,500 to a little less than 5,000 .

Continuing assessment apparently will be warranted; Saturday night The Pyramid broke a record when 5,118 fans attended the women's volleyball game.

Admission to sporting events for CSULB students is, of course, free in concordance with policy of The Pyramid.

According to Shumard, the structure has met its goal.

"The Pyramid was meant to be an icon, a rallying point for the community. It's catching on - and we're proud of that."