UNM, Nusenda announce 10-year, $17.4 million naming rights deal for the Pit

The six-decade-old arena, dug 37 feet into the New Mexico dirt at the corner of Avenida Cesar Chavez and University Avenue in southeast Albuquerque, has never been called "the Pit."

At least not officially.

On the books, it's a facility known as University Arena. 

But the Pit, as generations of New Mexicans who attended a state basketball tournament game, a UNM men's basketball game or a nationally renowned rodeo have called it, is as beloved a part of the state's culture as just about anything.

Thursday, the University of New Mexico, wanting to preserve the Pit's standing in the community and needing to unearth new revenue streams for Lobo Athletics, announced a new partnership with Nusenda Credit Union to bring those ideas together.

A 10-year, $17.4 million naming rights deal will rename University Arena as "The Pit — Powered by Nusenda" — a play on the credit union's tagline "The Power of We."

"Nusenda and the University of New Mexico has had a 40-year partnership," Nusenda President and CEO Michelle Dearholt, a UNM graduate and Albuquerque native, told the Journal in an interview prior the public announcement. "For us, this is a deepening of the partnership. There's no better partner, in my opinion, to do this because we've already been with them down this road for 40 years. That's number one.

"I think the other reason for us to really step up is college athletics — we're in a different era. There's so much happening, there's so much with name, image and likeness, the transfer portal. There's a lack of stability, from my perspective, in what's happening in college athletics. But community partners can provide that stability. This is where we can step up."

Officially, the deal is pending UNM Board of Regents approval, but an on-court presentation with Dearholt, University President Garnett S. Stokes, Interim Athletic Director Ryan Berryman, dozens of top administrators from both Nusenda and the university along with a pre-made announcement video including Lobo athletes — something not even allowed by the NCAA until recent years — certainly suggests the "pending" approval is all but a formality. 

The sponsorship agreement is between Nusenda and Playfly Sports, UNM Athletics' multimedia rights partner with local operations more commonly referred to as UNM Sports Properties. As a third-party partner, companies like Playfly have maintained that such naming rights contracts are not public record, though the Journal has filed an Inspection of Public Records Act request for the agreement.

The deal, which has been in the works for more than a year with Deputy Athletic Director Jalen Dominguez and UNM Sports Properties General Manager Brent Moore leading the charge for the school, will begin with the start of the 2026-27 Lobo men's and women's basketball seasons and will include signage on the exterior of the arena, in addition to the signage already inside. Nusenda's previous six-figure annual agreement with UNM Athletics allows the credit union logo to be on Bob King Court.

Nusenda will pay no upfront money for the new naming-rights deal, but rather what will average out to $1.74 million per fiscal year to UNM Athletics (it starts at $1.5 million next fiscal year and will have a small escalator each year until completion). 

The money will go into a general fund to support revenue sharing for athletes in all UNM sports. "The funds are intended to really help take a holistic look at the athletic needs across the board," Dearholt said.

Berryman said that while there's not a guarantee there will be a revenue sharing contract or payment for every athlete, all 16 varsity sports sponsored by the school will have at least some revenue sharing for players, not only the high-revenue sports of men's basketball and football, which were the only two sports to receive such funding when it became allowed just this past year. 

"We've made a conscious effort as a leadership team to prioritize that for the future ahead," Berryman said of NIL funding for all athletes. "... We have over 400 student athletes. I think it's probably challenging to say that every student athlete will be under an agreement, but we certainly made that a priority, to prioritize every sport through that effort. 

"I'll also say that we're on very stable footing financially as an athletic department. And I think when you're in that position, and we've seen a lot of athletic departments that are not in that position, every new dollar that comes in, we can be targeted in our approach. And so we're not filling a hole, we're not plugging a gap. We can choose collectively how we want to invest that new investment. And so I think that's what's really exciting about this partnership, in particular."

The deal does not include sponsorship or branding of other facilities, such as the nearby University Stadium or either the baseball or softball fields adjacent to the Pit. That, Berryman and Stokes both hinted at, and with Dominguez already spearheading the efforts toward, is something that could be in the future. 

The deal will not diminish or otherwise affect any current agreements UNM and Nusenda have, including a on-campus branch in the student union, Nusenda's funding of UNM's Center of Financial Capability, the UNM Rainforest,  and other joint initiatives teaming with UNM Hospital and Popejoy Hall.

"They are not new to this campus. They are not new to the state. They understand this place and today, we are proud to expand that partnership," Stokes said. "... As part of this partnership, we will preserve the identity of the Pit that generations of logos cherish while recognizing a partner that has long stood alongside our university."

The public's protectiveness of the Pit may have played a role in the credit union's name being placed after the venue's colloquial name. Dearholt knows some fans will insist on calling it just the Pit.

"We were really mindful of that as we approached the naming opportunity," she said. "Something that was really critical to me and my team here at Nusenda was that we were preserving the tradition of the Pit, recognizing what it means to the community. We sought feedback and did a lot of focus group surveys so that we could understand what the community wants and needs, and the feedback was really clear, to your point, the Pit has to remain the Pit. ...

"We're local. We were founded in Albuquerque. I'm a two-time graduate of UNM. I want to say the Pit as well. But really, the point isn't that we take over the name. We support, we power the work that they're doing, and also recognizing how much this will positively impact the community."

UNM and Nusenda's agreement is similar to what one regional university recently got for its arena naming rights deal. The University of Arizona, a member of the Big 12 conference, announced a 15-year, $27.7 million agreement with an insurance company to rename its basketball facility the McKale Center at ALKEME Arena. UA will get roughly $1.8 million per year from ALKEME.

History of Pit naming rights

UNM Athletics signed a naming rights deal for University Arena for the first time in 2014. The deal with a local pizza chain for "WisePies Arena (aka the Pit)" was for $5 million over 10 years. The name didn't sit well with fans and the back-loaded deal ended within a couple of years with the university receiving fewer than $1 million. 

In May 2017, UNM announced Dreamstyle Remodeling, the local construction business owned by Albuquerque native and longtime Lobo sports booster Larry Chavez, had agreed to a 10-year, $10 million agreement for "Dreamstyle Arena" and, across the street, "Dreamstyle Stadium" for the football stadium.

Disagreements between Chavez and UNM administrators led to the deal ending within three years, with the university reportedly receiving about $2.5 million. Chavez and UNM Athletics are now in good standing. Last year, Chavez donated $1 million to athletics — no naming rights involved.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.