(Daniel Bunce/staff)

Peaches G. Blank, chair of the NC State Board of Trustees, left, and Chancellor Marye Anne Fox meet with the media Thursday following the board's decision to approve agreements on naming rights and parking for the arena.

The NC State Board of Trustees on Thursday unanimously agreed to accept an agreement settling lingering issues over parking at the Entertainment and Sports Arena, and also approved, with minor clarifications, a naming rights agreement for the facility.

The Centennial Authority, the body created to provide public oversight over the arena, gave final approval later Thursday to an agreement that will give RBC Centura Banks, Inc., the right to rename the arena for the next 20 years in exchange for $80 million.

"We are so proud to have an arrangement established which will allow this wonderful facility to continue operating for a long time," NC State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox said. "…We believe that, as reflected in a unanimous vote by the Board of Trustees, it is a good document for us, one that can form the basis for us to have a very strong and continuing positive relationship both with the managers of the arena and the other partners."

A special meeting of the Board of Trustees was called in advance of its regularly scheduled meeting to help speed the naming rights agreement process along, but Peaches G. Blank, chair of the board, stressed that the decision made was anything but a hurried one.

"We took the necessary time to tie up all the loose ends that were still remaining so that the partnership between all three parties (NCSU, Gale Force Holdings and the Centennial Authority) can go forward in a very positive fashion," Blank said. "It needs to be underscored that this was a unanimous vote by the board. We have deliberated on this process many, many times. …We have taken this decision very seriously, and I think everyone is so happy that we have come to such a great conclusion."

NC State's agreement on parking reached with Gale Force Holdings resolves a dispute over distribution of revenue over the past three years and, more importantly, answers how future revenue will be divided. Fox said after the Board's meeting that NC State would receive 60 percent of future parking revenue related to certain university events held at the arena and Gale Force, which manages the facility, would receive 40 percent.

"This was not a major issue, except in going forward, we needed a firm basis of understanding for operation of the arena," Fox said. "…As a result of this agreement, we expect that all parties will participate in a way that we all originally envisioned, in a very smooth and compatible relationship," Fox said.

Posted September 19, 2002

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