The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
With the goal of stepping into the future, Long Beach State announced that they have entered a 12-year, $8.5-million dollar naming-rights agreement that will pave the foundation of Beach Athletics for years to come during a press conference on Thursday.
The deal is the largest naming rights sponsorship in LBSU athletics history that will rename the Mike and Arline Walter Pyramid as the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid.
“Thanks for joining us as we usher in an exciting, very exciting new era for Beach athletics and for the entire campus,” CSULB president Andrew Jones said. “It’s just a wonderful day.”
For LBS Financial Credit Union, the deal made a lot of sense for them as they’ve had strong ties to the region after getting their start in a classroom at Wilson High School back in the 1930s.
“When I made this announcement to our employees that we were going to be partnering with the university in this way,” Sean Hardeman, President and CEO of LBS Federal Credit Union said. “They cheered. They’re full of pride, they’re excited about this. We’re excited about this.”
The deal came after a year-long process with the collaboration of ADC Partners and The Superlative Group that assisted throughout the entire process that ended with the agreement being made.
“When we engaged with ADC partners, they told us it could be a 12-to-18 month process,” Bobby Smitheran, Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, said. “No one sponsorship agreement looks the same. So you just never know the community you’re in, the value that people attach to the facility. So this was roughly a 12-month process, give or take. So, I was really pleased that it was able to come to completion as quickly.”
Making the deal easier to complete was the Walters agreeing to step away from the naming rights in order to assist with creating room for the new sponsorship. The Walters renamed the Pyramid in 2004 thanks to a cash gift and a giving commitment. The Walters are working with the university to find a new location to show their dedication and support to the campus.
“The college athletics landscape is evolving rapidly, and we need to evolve with it,” said Mike Walter said in the official university press release. “We have been proud to support Beach Athletics and other university programs for more than thirty years and recognize this opportunity to amplify our impact. Our fundamental interest has always been to support both athletics and the academic efforts of the University.”
Aiming to help the Beach enter the new age of recruiting with NIL at the forefront, improvements to the athlete and fan experience are being prioritized. One item that will not be part of these immediate capital improvements are roof repairs that have forced Beach teams to relocate contests to the Gold Mine due to rain leaks – including today’s women’s basketball contest against San Francisco and two contests last week.
“I think as we think about the roof, that’s a bigger discussion that happens with the university,” Bobby Smitheran, Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, said. “We have a second study that’s taking place that I don’t have the results on yet, so I want to get those results when we dive into that with our campus leadership to really figure out what is that long-range plan, but the nice part of this partnership is we have an immediate shot in the arm that allows us to do some things immediately, that, again, are transformational for our student athletes. And our coaches.”
In comparison, the deal is very competitive to what other institutions acquired during naming-rights deals. In 2022, Cal State Northridge entered a $8.3-million dollar naming-rights deal with Premier America Credit union. The biggest difference is Long Beach State is getting the full amount upfront compared to CSUN – that got an amount annually that gradually increased throughout the partnership.
The immediate influx of money will allow LBSU to be more competitive, especially at a moment in time when mid-major athletics face unprecedented financial pressure from NIL demands, roster retention and resource gaps compared to power-conference programs.
“It’s our job to make sure we’re doing everything we can to help our coaches retain student-athletes,” Smitheran said. “We know scholarships across the board are not fully funded. The state of college athletics requires people in my position to look at alternatives to generate revenue. This opportunity really enables us to meet the moment.”
While time will tell what this will do for Beach Athletics, Smitheran has a vision for how this deal will impact the program 12 years down the line when the agreement ends.
“I would hope that people would see it as a transformational moment in Long Beach State athletics history,” Smitheran said. “I think it really matches up with what is taking place in college athletics and that we took the opportunity to do our best to meet that moment. And hopefully it results in elevating our brand and it’s an opportunity to reinvest in our student athletes, our coaches, our programs.”
