Full name | Walter Pyramid |
---|---|
Former names | The Long Beach Pyramid |
Location | 1250 Bellflower Boulevard Long Beach, CA 90840 |
Coordinates | 33°47′14″N118°6′51″W / 33.78722°N 118.11417°W |
Owner | Long Beach State University |
Operator | Long Beach State University |
Capacity | 4,000 (With additional seating, a record attendance of 6,912 occurred on November 16, 2012 versus North Carolina) |
Surface | Beechwood |
Scoreboard | Yes |
Construction | |
Broke ground | December 17, 1992 [1] |
Opened | November 30, 1994 |
Construction cost | $23 million ($43.4 million in 2022 dollars [2] ) |
Architect | Don Gibbs |
Structural engineer | John A. Martin & Associates |
General contractor | Nielson Construction Company |
Tenants | |
Long Beach State Beach men's basketball Long Beach State Beach women's basketball Long Beach State Beach men's volleyball Long Beach State Beach women's volleyball |
The Walter Pyramid, formerly known as The Long Beach Pyramid, is a 4,000-seat, pyramid-shaped indoor multi-purpose arena on the campus of Long Beach State University in Long Beach, California. [3]
The Walter Pyramid was officially opened on November 30, 1994, when it hosted a Long Beach State men's basketball game against the Detroit Titans, which aired live on ESPN. A standing-room only crowd of 5,021 saw Long Beach come away victorious with a final score of 71-64.
The Walter Pyramid was designed by Don Gibbs and built by the Nielson Construction Company of San Diego. The building of Walter Pyramid cost approximately $22 million. Each side of the perimeter of Walter Pyramid measures 345 feet (105 m), making it a mathematically true pyramid. It is one of only four true pyramid-style buildings in the United States, the others being the Summum Pyramid in Salt Lake City, Utah, Luxor Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Memphis Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Walter Pyramid rises 18 stories above the Long Beach skyline and its exterior is uniformly clad in sheets of dark-blue corrugated aluminum.
On March 5, 2005, Long Beach State officially renamed The Pyramid to Walter Pyramid in honor of Mike and Arline Walter. The Walters were given this recognition for a $2.1 million donation given to the university. [4] In addition to being the vice-president of Levi Strauss & Co., Mike Walter was also a dean for Long Beach State's College of Business Administration from 1993 to 2000. [5]
The Walter Pyramid is currently home to the Long Beach State Beach men's basketball and Long Beach State Beach women's basketball programs, as well as the Long Beach State Beach men's volleyball and Long Beach State Beach women's volleyball programs. All LBSU teams playing home games in the Walter Pyramid are nicknamed “the Beach”. The teams were previously known as the 49ers but that nickname was recently dropped. Prior to the construction of the Walter Pyramid on campus, the men's basketball team played some of their games in the Long Beach Arena in downtown Long Beach, and at the on-campus University Gymnasium later renamed Gold Mine, which has just 1,900 seats.
In addition to being the home for Long Beach State athletics, the Walter Pyramid as hosted several NCAA-sponsored events including numerous women’s volleyball NCAA matches, the 2001 and 2003 NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championships and the 2003 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Regionals.
The Southern California Summer Pro League used the Walter Pyramid during the summer months from 1995 to 2007. The league showcased current and prospective NBA basketball players, including recent draft picks, current NBA players working on their skills and conditioning, and international professionals hoping to become NBA players. The league went on hiatus for the 2008 season and announced its intention to move to Los Angeles for 2009. [6]
The Walter Pyramid was home to the Long Beach Stingrays, a women's professional basketball team of the now-defunct American Basketball League for a time in 1997 and 1998.
The Walter Pyramid hosts the World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships or, in Portuguese language, Mundials .
New Japan Pro-Wrestling presented the show Strong Style Evolved on March 25, 2018, which sold out within minutes. In 2019, they held the finals of the Super J-Cup. The company returned to the venue on May 21 2023, presenting Resurgence.
The Los Angeles Sparks played a 2019 WNBA Playoffs semifinals game at the Walter Pyramid.
Viejas Arena is the home arena of the San Diego State Aztecs men's and women's basketball teams. It is located on the San Diego State University (SDSU) campus in San Diego, California. Viejas Arena opened in July 1997 and seats 12,414 for basketball and up to 12,845 for concerts. The facility also hosts SDSU's commencement ceremonies.
Harry A. Gampel Pavilion is a 10,299-seat multi-purpose arena in Storrs, Connecticut, United States, on the campus of the University of Connecticut (UConn). The arena opened on January 21, 1990, and is the largest on-campus arena in New England. It was named after industrialist and 1943 UConn graduate Harry A. Gampel, a philanthropist who walked with Martin Luther King Jr., and who donated $1 million for the construction of the arena. It is about 216,000 sq ft (20,100 m2). Gampel Pavilion is the primary home to the UConn Huskies men's basketball and women's basketball teams. It was formerly the home of the women's volleyball team.
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The Jon M. Huntsman Center is a 15,000-seat indoor arena in the western United States, on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. It is the home of the Utah Utes of the Pac-12 Conference, the primary venue for basketball and gymnastics.
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John M. Belk Arena is a 5,295-seat multi-purpose arena, located on the campus of Davidson College, in Davidson, North Carolina, United States.
Desert Financial Arena is a 14,198-seat multi-purpose arena located at 600 E Veterans Way in Tempe, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. It sits immediately east of Mountain America Stadium on the northern edge of the Tempe campus of Arizona State University (ASU).
Dale F. Halton Arena at the James H. Barnhardt Student Activity Center is an indoor sports venue located on the main campus of UNC Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is the home venue of the Charlotte 49ers men's and women's basketball teams and volleyball team. Halton Arena was named for the former president and CEO of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Charlotte. She was a benefactress to the university and served on the university's board of trustees. The building was funded entirely through private donations and student fees.
The Dee Glen Smith Spectrum is a 10,270-seat multi-purpose arena in the western United States, located on the campus of Utah State University in Logan, Utah. Best known as the home of the Utah State Aggies men's and the women's basketball teams, it also hosts gymnastics, volleyball, and other sporting events. The elevation at street level is approximately 4,770 feet (1,450 m) above sea level.
Dee Events Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the western United States, located on the campus of Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. The circular, 11,592-seat domed arena, similar in design to many of the era, opened 47 years ago in 1977. It was named for the Lawrence T. Dee family, for his extensive contributions in building the arena.
Alex G. Spanos Center is a 6,150-seat, indoor multi-purpose stadium on the campus of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
Alumni Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Amherst, New York. The arena is home to the State University of New York at Buffalo men's and women's basketball teams, the women's volleyball team, and wrestling team. The facility has a capacity of 6,783 people for basketball games.
Fant–Ewing Coliseum is a 7,085-seat multi-purpose arena in Monroe, Louisiana, United States, on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Monroe. It was built in 1971 and is home to the Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks men's and women's basketball teams and women's volleyball team. The arena also hosts concerts and events.
The Gersten Pavilion is a 3,900-seat multi-purpose arena in Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the Loyola Marymount University Lions. It was built in 1981 and has been used for home games by the university's men's basketball, women's basketball, and volleyball teams since January 1982.
The KSU Convocation Center is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia, United States. The arena has a listed seating capacity of 3,805 people and opened in 2005. It is home to the Kennesaw State Owls men's basketball, women's basketball, and women's volleyball teams as well as the administrative offices for the KSU athletic department. It is also available for other events and has hosted concerts, conferences, and trade shows, as well as sporting events.
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