Love Shaq Assembly Center? Shaquille O’Neal Pledges To Help Pay For New Arena At LSU

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

So, if it happens, what will the name of LSU’s new basketball arena be?

Will it still be named after superstar Pistol Pete Maravich?

LSU is trying to replace the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, which opened as the Assembly Center in 1972 with Maravich’s name added after his death in 1988. And another LSU basketball great and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member, Shaquille O’Neal, has pledged his financial support.

So, the Love Shaq Assembly Center?

“LSU and Baton Rouge deserve a world-class arena, and I’m very excited to endorse Oak View Group’s plan,” O’Neal said in a statement on Friday. “I look forward to becoming the first investor to help bring this new venue to Baton Rouge and LSU.”

O’Neal did not say if he wanted to pay for naming rights or how much he would pay of the estimated $400 million price of a new arena by Oak View Group, which has struggled to get the ball rolling on a new arena, so to speak.

Oak View CEO Timothy Leiweke was indicted in July on federal charges that he manipulated the bidding process for an arena at the University of Texas. He later resigned and LSU stalled its plans at that time.

But O’Neal, the 7-foot-1 Associated Press national player of the year at LSU in the 1990-91 season and the first pick of the 1992 NBA Draft by Orlando, is still supporting Oak View, which was the sole finalist for the bid for a new LSU arena.

“I’ve worked with OVG (Oak View Group) in venues across the country, and they are the best partners and great operators,” the four-time NBA champion O’Neal said.

LSU is “still in the evaluation phase” of a new arena, an LSU spokesperson told the Baton Rouge Advocate newspaper on Friday.

A new arena may not feature Maravich’s or O’Neal’s name. Baton Rouge’s Our Lady of the Lake hospital, which is a major corporate sponsor of LSU, is the lone candidate so far for the naming rights of a new arena. It could end up being “Our Lady of the Lake Arena,” as the Lake is considering paying $50 million for naming rights.

Statues of Maravich, who is the all-time scoring leader in NCAA men’s basketball with 3,667 points in three seasons (1967-70) when LSU played at the John Parker Agricultural Coliseum, O’Neal and former LSU basketball greats Bob Pettit and Seimone Augustus grace the back entrance to the Maravich Assembly Center.