Private money donations ?” partly through naming rights ?” are vital to the completion of a campus arena, President Alexander Gonzalez announced last month.

Although the university’s athletic facility project (formerly known as the RWEC) is now named the Alex G. Spanos Sports and Recreation Complex, naming rights for the arena portion of the project are still available, said Frank Whitlatch, associate vice president of public affairs.

Spanos donated $10 million for the project.

Naming rights for the arena could be crucial. At Fresno State University, Pepsi and Save Mart Supermarket gave $40 million for naming rights for the Save Mart Center, a $103 million project.The biggest fundraising contribution for the Sac State project has come from a $12 million, 25-year partnership with Pepsi Bottling Group.

A bigger key to securing financing for the future arena could be its strategic positioning, which is in plain view of commuters that travel east and west on Highway 50 each day.

By financing the arena privately, Whitlatch said student fees could go toward making a better recreation, wellness and events center.

After initial plans of having an all-in-one center, the project was broken into separate facilities and phases: a recreation wellness and events center, arena, fieldhouse and stadium renovations. The entire project has an estimated price tag of more than $170 million, according to the project’s newly launched Web site.

Whitlatch said the arena is an undefined phase of the project because it can be built as soon as funds are secured. Its estimate cost is between $60 million and $70 million, depending on seating capacity, according to the Web site.

But other financing possibilities are on the table, including naming rights within other parts of the complex, Whitlatch said.

CSU spokeswoman Clara Potes-Fellow said it is very common for campuses to use private funding to build non-academic facilities that serve student life.

State bonds are another method to raise money, but the state will only fund academic facilities, Potes-Fellow said.

“Usually students elect to tax themselves” for recreational buildings, but private financing has been a viable and necessary option for universities to build arenas and recreational centers, Potes-Fellow said.

Amy Polacko, spokeswoman for Pepsi Bottling Group (the largest distributor and manufacturer of Pepsi), said details of the partnership and contract couldn’t be disclosed per policy.

Whitlatch said the first phase of the project would be a new field house, slated to break ground in the fall, because the current fieldhouse lies in the way of the future recreation, wellness and events center. The arena will be located on the south side of Parking Structure III.

Gamaliel Ortiz can be reached at [email protected]