P1FCU buys naming rights to Dome
Pending state approval, UI football arena to invoke credit union while retaining Kibbie Dome phrasing
The Kibbie Dome will soon have a new official name pending approval from the Idaho State Board of Education.
P1FCU, a Lewiston-based credit union, has agreed to pay the University of Idaho $5 million over 10 years for the naming rights to the Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center.
The new proposed name is the P1FCU Kibbie Dome. The Board of Education will hold a special meeting today to vote on the matter.
“The Vandal Family has long called the Kibbie Dome home,” UI President Scott Green said in a statement. “This partnership with P1FCU helps us continue our commitment to student success, spurs excitement in our dedicated student-athletes and is yet another sign that the U of I is thriving.”
As part of the agreement, P1FCU will sponsor financial education programs called Better Education About Money for Students (BEAMS), and Elevate Idaho. BEAMS will teach financial knowledge, and Elevate Idaho focuses on teaching student-athletes how to navigate Name, Image, Likeness opportunities.
According to the State Board of Education’s meeting materials, the credit union would also have the right to use the dome in its advertisements and promotions. UI will reserve a mutually agreed upon number of parking spaces for P1FCU on game days.
UI and P1FCU will work together to create logos and signage for the dome.
This is not the first time dome had a naming sponsorship. UI spokesperson Jodi Walker wrote in an email that the Kibbie name is from a previous sponsorship from William H. Kibbie. That naming right has long since expired.
The football field inside the dome does not have a separate name at this time, Walker wrote.
“But, much like when basketball was played in the dome on the Cowan Spectrum, that option could potentially be explored,” she wrote.
This is not the first time a credit union paid millions to the UI for naming rights. In 2018, Idaho Central Credit Union paid the university $10 million for naming rights to the UI’s new basketball arena in a 35-year deal.
In 2021, P1FCU agreed to a $2 million sponsorship with Lewis-Clark State College in a deal that included the naming rights to LCSC’s Activity Center.
P1FCU was founded in Lewiston in 1938 and has members across Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.
