The family of late Harris County Judge Roy Hofheinz filed a petition Wednesday seeking to require the University of Houston to "honor its original agreement" and keep the school's basketball arena named Hofheinz Pavilion.

The university filed a petition in Harris County probate court April 13 asking to be let out of the 47-year-old agreement, which would pave the way for the school to secure a multimillion-dollar naming-rights deal as part of a massive renovation project scheduled to begin in 2017.

The family's counterclaim is that the $1.5 million paid to the university through Hofheinz's charitable foundation in 1969 to complete construction on the basketball arena should remain in effect "as long as the building exists."

"One of our most important values, sometimes lost these days, is that a person's word is that person's bond," said attorney John Raley, who represents the Hofheinz family. "Does the university's honor have a price tag?"

UH is scheduled to begin a $60 million renovation of the 8,479-seat arena, home to the Phi Slama Jama teams that made three consecutive Final Fours from 1982-84, next spring.

Hofheinz Petition by Houston Chronicle

Hofheinz Exhibits by Houston Chronicle

In November, the school announced a $20 million lead gift toward the project, which presumably will go toward a naming-rights deal. The university since has referred to the endeavor as the "Basketball Arena Renovation Project."

Mayor Sylvester Turner, a UH graduate, was asked about the lawsuit Wednesday afternoon before he had been briefed on it.

"I'm a Cougar. It was Hofheinz when I was there. Should I wade into that water?" Turner said. "There's something in a name. And I'll just leave it at that."

Big-money deals

Naming-rights deals have become big money for schools seeking to maximize revenue. In 2014, UH signed a 10-year, $15 million naming-rights partnership deal with Texas Dow Employees Credit Union to name the school's new football stadium TDECU Stadium.

The average annual naming rights fees for colleges that have sold them for basketball arenas is $988,508, according to Business of College Sports.com. In 2013, Illinois sold the naming rights to Assembly Hall to State Farm for $60 million over 30 years.

Last year, TCU's basketball arena, Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, was renamed Schollmaier Arena.

In a statement, UH said it was "grateful for the Hofheinz family's contributions on behalf of the university" but "in this matter disagrees with its position regarding the duration of the naming rights as well as many of the facts they have alleged."

The Hofheinz family contends the agreement has a present-day monetary value of $8 million. UH said it has been in discussions with the family on "an amicable resolution."

When UH was unable to finish construction in 1969, according to the filing, the school asked Hofheinz's charitable foundation to donate $1.5 million in exchange for naming it after Hofheinz, a longtime civic leader and UH alum who served as Houston mayor, judge of Harris County and a state representative and who helped conceive the idea to build the Astrodome.

"There was only one condition on the donation: For once, something in Houston that he helped build would bear his name," Raley said. "The university agreed, took his money, spent it, and now wants to break their agreement. That is illegal and, as any fair-minded Texan can see, simply wrong."

In 1970, UH officially dedicated Hofheinz Pavilion, which became home to such stars as Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler and Hall of Fame coach Guy V. Lewis.

Raley said the Hofheinz charitable foundation paid the $1.5 million in 10 installments until 1979. Each time the payments were received, he said, there was a reference to the agreement.

No expiration date

Hofheinz Pavilion has undergone renovations in the past, but there has never been a proposed name change until now, Raley said.

"(The agreement) doesn't say in 20 years you can rename it or anything," Raley said. "It just says the building will be named Hofheinz Pavilion. That goes with the building."

The filing also alleges UH has "diluted the importance of Hofheinz's memory" by selling the naming rights to the basketball court (named after Lewis) and locker rooms inside Hofheinz Pavilion. The school also has failed to provide proper maintenance, even allowing the Hofheinz plaque "to deteriorate into a graffiti-covered embarrassment," according to court papers.

Raley said the family learned of the university's intent to change the name only by reading media reports.

A hearing is scheduled for May 10, although a continuance is expected.

Rebecca Elliott contributed to this report.