Why not sale our stadium naming rights?

[Bornthrilla]

Opinion by Greg Hansen : Stadium naming rights becoming routine, necessary
Cardinals Stadium latest example of big business influence in sports
Opinion by Greg Hansen


Sometime in the fog of my college days, school officials announced plans to build a 10,000-seat basketball arena and then, somewhat disingenuously, solicited ideas to name the grand place.
I was first in line, via the student daily's editorial page, to suggest the "Wayne Estes Center,'' What else could it be?
My suggestion was that the university should honor its lone consensus basketball All-American, a beloved figure who was killed the night he broke Utah State's Nelson Fieldhouse scoring record of 48 points.
How naïve; USU soon named the place after the man who owned the Smith's grocery store chain. Can't recall how much he paid, but it was not nearly enough to make anyone happy.
Such was my introduction to the corporate presence in college sports.
So you won't get any reaction by informing me that the Arizona Cardinals have sold stadium naming rights to the University of Phoenix. One would prefer that they use the annual income of $7.7 million to produce a better football team, but, alas, we know better.
And we don't care.
Denver put up a struggle when perfectly-named Mile High Stadium was replaced by Invesco Field, but mostly we are numb to the awkwardness of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium (Louisville) and the Save Mart Center (Fresno State).
The only sacred venue names remaining in sports are the Rose Bowl, Yankee Stadium and Augusta National. Everything else is up for grabs; our traditional sensibilities have been dulled by years of Bank One Ballparks and FedEx Fields.
Two years ago, UA officials were close to a deal with the Pascua Yaqui Tribe that would have paid the athletic department $20 million over 20 years to retitle the school's football facility as "Arizona Stadium at Pascua Yaqui Field.''
Oh, Lord, could the UA use a cut of the tribe's gambling money. Ultimately, one side blinked and we averted the moral outrage of those who would have objected to casino money in college football.
It would have become a national story, the type of mess that could have sullied the UA's good name.
However, no one came forth with strong objections when Arizona became the first Pac-10 school to place an advertisement — Alltel — on the playing surface of its basketball court. The school has an annual signage deal with Alltel for about $500,000 and, more importantly, Lute Olson's only public comment about the hallowed floor is that no one is going to remove the cactus logo while he is breathing.
The UA has sold naming rights within McKale Center to locker rooms, offices, weight rooms, academic offices, meeting rooms, training rooms, everything. It is not intrusive, but rather, necessary to help meet a budget of close to $40 million.
The one unspoken, off-limits, never-for-sell property is McKale Center itself. It probably could fetch $2 million annually in today's market, perhaps more, given its visibility. But one suspects that Jim Livengood cherishes his role as the UA's athletic director.
Who could survive that?
Wells Fargo bought naming rights to ASU's basketball facility with almost no reaction. Sun Devil basketball has been so awful that few noticed. And besides, ASU did not have to take down the name of a sacred coach or administrator, such as Pop McKale, to do so.
Nine years ago, Tucson Electric Power agreed to a 10-year, $2 million deal for naming rights to Tucson's South Side ballpark. What a bargain; rarely has advertising money received a better return.
Tucson Electric Park has a ring to it, which is much of the battle.
The Diamondbacks, who authorized the deal, declined offers from Bank of America and a soft drink company to create TEP. When the deal expires next year, don't be surprised to see the price double — and to see a half-dozen corporate groups bid to get their name on the wall.
We appear to be stuck with University of Phoenix Stadium, however. The length of the deal, 20 years, is such that someday it will sound routine. Sort of how we got used to hearing AT&T Park instead of Candlestick Park.
Pac-10 schools have sold naming rights for just three football stadiums: Oregon State's Reser Stadium is named after a grocery firm, and Washington State's Martin Stadium is named after the father of a wealthy Los Angeles businessman.
Even though Nike has contributed tens of millions of dollars to Oregon's athletic department in recent years, the UO's Autzen Stadium is named after late Portland lumberman Thomas J. Autzen. In 1967, Autzen paid an estimated $500,000 in construction costs for the school's football stadium. His name lives in posterity.
Today, $500,000 gets you a sign on the scoreboard, a few free hot dogs and a premium parking space.
For $154 million, you can go into business with Bill Bidwill.
I'll take the hot dogs.


Stadium name game:


The sacred
Rose Bowl
Yankee Stadium


The awkward
Papa John's Cardinal Stadium (Louisville)
Save Mart Center (Fresno State)

[Bornthrilla]

August 9, 2006
Carnivalesque Rally Celebrates Sale of Stadium Naming Rights

The University of Central Florida staged a promotional rally on Tuesday for an announcement of central importance to the campus. It wasn’t the winning of a major research grant, the receipt of a huge gift, the admission of a freshman class with record-setting credentials, or the hiring of a bevy of top-notch faculty members. Nope, it was the signing of a $15-million, 15-year contract to sell the naming rights for the university’s yet-unbuilt football stadium to Bright House Networks, a cable-television company in the state.

The 45,000-seat stadium, set to open in 2007, is part of a $60-million project that also includes facilities for two other sports.

As described in the Orlando Business Journal, the pep rally featured the student band, the cheerleading squad, and a host of students dressed as referees and as vendors handing out a variety of stadium treats.

The featured speaker amid the “carnival atmosphere” was the university’s president, John C. Hitt. Also in attendance was the football coach, George O’Leary, whose team recently moved up from the Mid-American Conference to Conference USA. Mr. Hitt jokingly told the coach that the university wants to give the nationally acclaimed cheerleaders a football team “we can be proud of.”

That recalls the University of Oklahoma president who once said that “we want to build a university that the football team can be proud of.”

[Bornthrilla]

Simons: Naming rights another way money talks in college athletics
By Dolph C. Simons, Jr.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Money talks, and there is no better proof of that than at the University of Minnesota and Kansas University athletic departments.

There’s little question that money — big money — is calling the shots in collegiate sports these days and that sports, unfortunately, often are the dominant force at our state-assisted universities.

For years, University of Minnesota athletic officials have lobbied for a football stadium on their campus. The Gophers have been playing in the downtown Minneapolis domed stadium that also is the home for the Minnesota Twins professional baseball team and the Minnesota Vikings professional football team. Each team has wanted its own facility and, after years of negotiations, legislative battles and plan after plan, each team has been given the go-ahead to build a new facility.

Vikings officials have plans for a 68,500-seat stadium with a retractable roof. Vikings owner Sygi Wilf has pledged $280 million, which will be matched by the county, for the Blaine, Minn., facility, but he does not want a retractable roof and likes playing football games in the cold and snow of Minnesota.

The Twins will have their own facility with a domed or retractable roof, and the Gophers will have an open-air 50,000-seat stadium on their campus. The school’s Memorial Stadium was torn down, and the football team has been playing in the off-campus downtown Metrodome since 1982. The U-shaped Gophers stadium is expected to cost $248 million.

The unique feature of the university’s stadium is that it will become the first corporate-named stadium in the Big 10 Conference. For $35 million, the TCF Financial Corp. will have its name on the stadium.

The university will use the TCF money, along with private donations and a $25 annual student fee, to pay its 45 percent share of the stadium’s cost. The state has agreed to pay 55 percent of the cost, but according to the school’s athletic director, Joel Maturi, the state won’t give the school that money until it raises the other 45 percent.

The $35 million naming rights bring many benefits to TCF, including new financial muscle on the campus, logos all over the place, prime seating locations and many other “goodies.” The stadium is expected to open in 2009.

Chances are, many athletic directors across the country are studying the Minnesota stadium situation and trying to figure out whether they might be able to swing a similar deal. Could KU’s Memorial Stadium, for example, soon be named for some bank or generous contributor? It’s not out of the question; look at the situation at Oklahoma State, where the naming rights were tied to the $125 million gift of Boone Pickens!

Considering the importance KU’s athletic director places on money, surely he is thinking about ways to put the name of some individual or company on the side of Memorial Stadium or maybe even Allen Fieldhouse. For $25 million, $50 million or $100 million, who knows?

The Minnesota deal has a lot of perks for the financial institution:

• TCF will get exclusive access to the names and addresses of approximately 236,000 alumni and season-ticket holders so it can market new debit cards.

• The bank’s logo will be placed on everything from tickets and stadium menus to service worker uniforms and stadium maintenance vehicles.

• The financial firm will be allowed to strengthen its position on the university campus by ousting ATMs of two major competitors.

• The head coach, former KU coach Glen Mason, along with the school’s spirit squad and mascot will be available at no cost for bank functions. Also, the university will pay all expenses to fly four people to an out-of-town game once a year and provide 16 prime seats for all home games.

At one point in the negotiations, the banking company — for an additional $150,000 a year, adjusted at 3 percent a year — could market itself as “TCF — The Official Bank of Gopher Sports.” For $200,000 a year, adjusted at the 3 percent rate annually, the slogan could have been “TCF — The Official Bank of the University of Minnesota.”

That deal fell through, but who knows? Maybe for $500,000 a year, the bank could have gotten what it wanted.

There are other “goodies” in the package, but here’s one more that might cause loyal KU alumni and fans to balk if a similar plan were proposed for Memorial Stadium: If Minnesota officials decide they want a sign on the stadium’s exterior that says something like “Home of the Golden Gophers,” any nearby signs with the words “TCF Bank Stadium” would have to be illuminated “with the same or greater lighting quality and intensity.”

Over the life of the seven-year agreement between the bank and the university, TCF will contribute an estimated $95 million to the school.

It’s big business, and bank officials must think the new deal can be justified. According to news reports, there was $65.3 million in checking balances in TCF accounts at the school’s two campuses in the Twin Cities and Duluth. Of that amount, $51 million was in students’ accounts. A university official said these figures have likely gone up since 2004. The university document stated, “The school’s financial offer from TCF was, and continues to be, the largest in the U.S. and Canada.” The officials added, “They see the potential return of their investments. As you know, month-end balances are pretty impressive.”

Minnesota state Sen. Larry Pogemiller, a member of the Democratic Farm Labor Party, opposed the naming rights deal when legislators approved the $248 million stadium this past spring saying, “It’s clear the market value of a land-grant university has been put up for sale.”

What is the sales value for the KU athletic department or the university itself? How long will it be before corporate naming rights are granted in the Big 12 Conference, and how soon will there be corporate names on KU’s Memorial Stadium and Allen Fieldhouse or Kansas State’s Bill Snyder Family Stadium and Bramlage Coliseum?

Look at the extortion tactics in Allen Fieldhouse and the skyrocketing price for basketball tickets. It doesn’t matter what a person may have given last year, because there is an annual re-evaluation of seat prices, and the highest bidder gets whatever seat location he or she wishes.

Increasing numbers of longtime KU academic and sports supporters are saying enough is enough. Some are known to have changed their wills and long-range giving plans to KU, but apparently, the administration sees nothing wrong with the high-pressure tactics. Who knows what the eventual damage to KU will be? Of course, most of those responsible for the gouging on KU athletic tickets and those who approved the plan will be gone when the next major KU capital campaign comes along. The damage will be done for others to try to repair.

It is a sad situation, but, again, money talks and sports are taking over more and more control of state-aided universities.

[Bornthrilla]

The more I research this topic, the more I think selling our stadium naming rights might be the only vehicle we can use to get a new press box. If we can get a deal that will bring us say, $15 million over the next 20 years, we can use some of that money to build a new pressbox and include a set number of luxury suites in the final blueprint - some of which would be set aside for the corporate sponsor.

Imagine if the regional vice president for Dell wanted to entertain some of his afro-american clients at our homecoming one year. Since his organization signed a exclusive naming rights deal with us, he would also be able to park his limo right in front of the stadium, bypass all the crowds and students via a special entrance, and then take a elevator straight to his own private suite in our new pressbox - complete with his own suite attendant and full buffet spread.

[Bornthrilla]

Published on Sunday, June 18, 2000 in the Washington Post
Sale of Naming Rights Hits Amateur Fields
by Manuel Perez-Rivas

A vast new soccer complex is taking shape amid the greenery of a regional park in northern Montgomery County. Playing fields have been carved out of the landscape, some already sprouting green grass, awaiting the first kickoff this fall.
The SoccerPlex will offer 22 well-kept playing fields, a soccer haven for enthusiasts from across the Washington region, and something more: a potential marketing vehicle.

The nonprofit Maryland Soccer Foundation, which will manage the SoccerPlex under a partnership with Montgomery County, plans to sell not only the name for the whole complex, but also the rights to each field. An indoor sports facility on the site already has been named for Bethesda-based media giant Discovery Communications, which provided $1 million toward the project.

This kind of an arrangement is no longer the exception. Across the country, more local and regional facilities like the SoccerPlex are following the example of professional sports, where seemingly every new stadium bears a corporate signature. Many local and state governments view naming rights as a way to help pay for big projects instead of dipping further into tax coffers.

"It's something that has just taken off," said Dennis Howard, a professor of sports marketing at the University of Oregon who is an expert in stadium financing. "It started in major markets first, but the trickle-down effect has been amazing."

The trend is not limited to sports. From Virginia to California, convention centers and amphitheaters--even libraries--have sold naming rights. In some states, high schools have put corporate names on their sports facilities.

Already, Washingtonians attend events at MCI Center, FedEx Field and USAirways Arena--and some venture to Baltimore's PSINet Stadium.

Earlier this year, the University of Maryland reached a $20 million deal with Comcast Corp. that will emblazon the Philadelphia-based communications company's name on the Terrapins' new arena in College Park for the next quarter-century, one of the richest naming deals in collegiate sports history.

The Montgomery County Council last month approved funding for the $89 million concert venue at Strathmore Hall and agreed with the Strathmore Hall Foundation, the nonprofit organization that will run the facility, that the name should be sold.

Eliot Pfanstiehl, Strathmore's executive director, said the organization is hoping to bring in a "naming gift" of about $15 million for the concert hall and education center at Strathmore, most likely from an individual donor, but possibly from a corporation. The gift would be good for the facility's lifetime, though Pfanstiehl said other offers would be considered.

Pfanstiehl, who is seeking potential donors, said he believes that kind of money is reasonable, not only because the economy is good but because of the concert hall's prestige: The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will play in an architecturally striking building that could well become a Montgomery County landmark. "As eternity goes, this is a bargain," he said.

The county will own the building. The money would form part of an endowment for the concert hall and be used to pay operating costs.

Howard dates the naming-rights trend to 1973, when many die-hard football fans in Buffalo, N.Y., were dismayed to learn that their beloved Bills would be playing in a stadium named after Rich Products, a locally based food company.

It was a 25-year deal for what now seems like a paltry $1.5 million, or $60,000 a year.

"Back then, it was the source of a lot of controversy," Howard said. "Now, the practice is so commonplace that most people just view it as part of the landscape. The vast majority of folks do not see this as an issue or a problem."

James Twitchell, a University of Florida English professor and author of books on advertising and pop culture, said the naming rights trend is part of the growing proliferation of advertising in society. He calls it "adcreep."

"It was only a matter of time before we moved from advertising in print and broadcast media to advertising in physical media," he said. Twitchell said schools are a favorite target of advertisers eager to get their message out to young audiences just forming their buying preferences, and that is one aspect of the trend that troubles him. "It's only a matter of time before you get, say, the Coca-Cola School of whatever."

Not everyone has bought into the concept. The Washington Convention Authority, for example, has decided to forgo--for now, at least--selling the naming rights to the city's new convention center, which is under construction. Officials said the facility could have netted a naming deal worth at least $60 million from corporate interests.

"We're the nation's capital, it just wouldn't fly to have a company name on our new convention center," said authority spokesman Tony Robinson, who said it will be called the Washington Convention Center.

In Maryland, one strong critic has been state Sen. Paul G. Pinsky (D-Prince George's), who in 1998 introduced a bill, which did not pass, that would have prohibited the state's colleges from putting corporate names on their facilities.

Pinsky said he believes the sale of naming rights on campus is a particularly worrisome trend. "It's putting the state university's educational imprimatur on a product," he said.

"The marketing of our society has obviously gotten out of hand. Everything is a product endorsement."

Yet others in the Prince George's delegation are enthusiastic backers of naming rights. Democratic Del. Dereck Davis introduced legislation that would have allowed the county executive to sell naming rights to athletic facilities on county property so that the money could be used for education spending. The bill failed this year, but Davis said he plans to try again next year.

"We're hearing more and more, as a government, that we need to do more with less," Davis said. "Citizens expect us to exhaust every other revenue possibility instead of looking at taxes."

Last week, Prince George's County Executive Wayne K. Curry (D) said he supports the concept of selling naming rights to the county's athletic and entertainment facilities. "It's a good idea, and something we intend to pursue," he said.

Analysts who research corporate sponsorships believe the trend will continue to grow. Cindy Shevrovich, senior executive vice president at Michigan-based Joyce Julius & Associates Inc., said she expects growth will be strong for regional facilities such as convention centers or minor-league stadiums.

Shevrovich estimates that corporations that sponsor regional facilities receive the annual equivalent of several million dollars in traditional advertising, thanks to mentions in print and broadcast coverage and the notice of visitors to these venues.

Jaye Gamble, Comcast's regional vice president for the Washington area and Virginia, said the deal with the University of Maryland is a good marketing fit for his company, which is aggressively expanding as a cable provider in the region. The deal gives Comcast immediate exposure to tens of thousands of potential subscribers on campus in College Park and in the surrounding communities.

Gamble points out, however, that the naming-rights trend is growing because governments benefit, too. The SoccerPlex, for example, likely would not have been built without the private-sector involvement.

The complex is scheduled to open in October at South Germantown Recreational Park. Foundation officials hope that naming rights to the fields--as well as other corporate sponsorship deals--will raise more than $9 million. Discovery Communications' $1 million contribution bought the naming rights to the indoor Discovery Sports Center for five years.

"We're in the market and we're talking to all sorts of potential sponsors," said Trisha Heffelfinger, executive director of the Maryland Soccer Foundation, who declined to put a price tag on the naming rights per field. She said the facility should be attractive to potential sponsors.

"We anticipate we will draw about 500,000 people to the SoccerPlex annually," she said. "That's a lot of eyeballs."


Naming Rights

The following are some projects in the region that have sold, or are looking to sell, their naming rights.

MCI Center, Washington

Named in 1997

* $44 million for 13 years

FedEx Field, Prince George's County

Named in 1999

* $205 million for 27 years

PSINet Stadium, Baltimore

Named in 1999

* $105.5 million for 20 years

Montgomery County SoccerPlex

Scheduled to open in October

Already named:

Indoor facility named Discovery Sports Center

* $1 million for five years.

Yet to be named:

22 fields, plus entire complex

* Seeking more than $9 million in naming rights and sponsorships.

Comcast Center, U of Md.-College Park

Scheduled to open in 2002

* $20 million for 25 years

Concert hall and arts education center at Strathmore, Montgomery County

Yet to be named, scheduled to open in 2004

* Seeking a naming gift of approximately $15 million.

[Bornthrilla]

To make this worth the corporate sponsor's while, we probably would have to start attracting more non-football events to Aggie Stadium -i.e regional track and field meets, high school football games, outdoor music festivals, etc.

If we can show that a certain number of people visit Aggie Stadium each year, even on top of the four or five A&T football games, and that Aggie Stadium is mentioned in the news for hosting events throughout the year, that could greatly bolster our sales pitch.

[aggielove]

my question is - does our school have the clout to bring in $15M over 20 years or something similar?
it's not like our athletics are the greatest even though we do have good facilities (at the football field).
the good thing is our current university partnerships with Ford, NASA, and so on could be helpful

[Bornthrilla]

Clout is relative and quite subjective. The better question is can we convince a bigtime corporation that we have enough clout to warrant their marketing dollars.

BTW: I just discovered that Dell computers already has a precedent for buying stadium naming rights:

www.roundrockexpress.com/stadium/stadiumfacts/


THE DELL DIAMOND: Home of the Express . . . .

As the home of the Round Rock Express, The Dell Diamond is a facility that features numerous amenities for fan comfort and enjoyment. The Express and Dell Computer Corporation agreed on a partnership that included naming rights to the stadium in January of 2000. The ballpark has received a number of accolades, including being named the "Best Double-A Ballpark in the Country" by Baseball America magazine in 2003. It was also featured in Baseball America’s 2005 "Great Parks Calendar."

The seating capacity of The Dell Diamond is 8,722 fixed seats with room for over 3,000 more on the grass berm beyond the outfield fence that spreads from foul pole to foul pole. Crowds at The Dell Diamond have swelled to more than 11,000 on 50 occasions during its first six seasons, including a record crowd of 13,414 on June 18, 2004 when Houston Astros pitcher Andy Pettitte appeared at The Dell Diamond on a rehabilitation start.

The Express set a new Double-A attendance record in each of its five seasons while a member of the Texas League from 2000 to 2004, bringing the five-year attendance total to 3,374,337 – representing the most successful five-year stretch in Double-A history. In its inaugural season as a member of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 2005, the Express established a sixth consecutive franchise home attendance record of 700,277.

The Dell Diamond was designed to be as "fan friendly" as possible. Included in the reserve seating area are 75 seats in the handicap areas located throughout the ballpark. There are restroom facilities on both the first and third base sides of the main concourse – four each for men and women all equipped with handicap access.

The passenger elevator for access to the suite/press level is located on the far end of the first base concourse. There are also four public stairways.

There is more than adequate parking with on-site space for more than 4,000 vehicles.

The United Heritage Conference Center at The Dell Diamond is located on the first base concourse. The 10,000-square foot building includes 5,400 square feet of actua meeting-room space that is divisible into three equal size suites. The center also features a full service kitchen.

Beyond the right field wall above the grass berm is a swimming pool measuring 20-feet by 50-feet, and 10-feet by 10-feet hot tub. Next to the pool is a covered picnic area.

Texadelphia is located just beyond the grass berm in right field. It is a covered dining area where fans can feast on good ol’ Texas cookin’ while watching the ballgame. Next to Texadelphia is a play area, which includes a "Sport Court" basketball court where fans can show off their jump shot, and a 26-foot high simulated "rock wall" on which fans can test their climbing skills.

Also included in the "Fun Zone" is a Speed Pitch and a series of other interactive games, including a sand volleyball court located between Texadelphia and the swimming pool area.

The scoreboard at The Dell Diamond features a full-color LED video screen measuring 16-feet high by 21-feet wide with complete graphics and video capability. The entire scoreboard structure measures 37-feet high by 56-feet wide.

Behind the scoreboard are the indoor batting cage and team clubhouses. Both teams’ bullpens are located beyond the outfield fence, modeled after Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles.

The Dell Diamond sound system is specifically designed to offer extreme clarity to all areas of the facility and features the latest in audio equipment to compliment the state-of-the art video scoreboard.

The playing field dimensions are 330 feet down the left field line, 325 feet down the right field line, 375 feet to both power alleys, and 407 feet to the deepest point in center field. The wall surrounding the outfield is eight feet high.

The Dell Diamond was designed to allow fans a close view of the action on the field. Fans seated on the first row behind home plate are actually closer to home plate than the pitchers mound. The mound to home plate measurement is 60-feet, 6-inches with the backstop just 55 feet behind home plate. Some fans seated down either the first or third base line are less than 50 feet from the first and third-base line.

The Dell Diamond is truly a "home-grown" project, with 80 percent of the materials used for the construction purchased from suppliers within the state of Texas. The limestone exterior and slabs were manufactured in Jarrell and Cedar Park, Texas. The Bermuda Tifway 419 grass surface and was grown in Poteet, Texas. The infield clay dirt is an Austin product, with other base material coming from Georgetown. The "warning track" material was shipped in from Strawn, Texas.

While Express baseball is the primary attraction, The Dell Diamond is also the site for amateur sporting events, as well as musical concerts, craft shows and other events held year-round.




This is just a 8700-seat stadium for some minor league baseball team, so I don't think it would be unfathomable that they would want to do business with us. Especially if we can do some upgrades to our pressbox and add luxury suites.

[Bornthrilla]

Austin American Statesman, Austin, TX

Round Rock ISD Looks to Sell Stadium Name

October 30, 2003

Anita Powell


The cash-strapped Round Rock school district is looking to put someone's name in lights on its new stadium -- for a price.

The district has sent letters to about 80 businesses -- local and national -- offering naming rights to the new $19 million, 11,000-seat athletics stadium on Parmer Lane.

Bidding to name the stadium that is home to Westwood and McNeil high schools starts at $2 million. The winning business will have its name emblazoned on the stadium's sign and scoreboard for 10 years. The money would go into the district's general fund. The practice of selling naming rights to corporations is common in professional sports -- Dell Diamond in Round Rock and Houston's Toyota Center are recent examples -- but new territory for public schools. The Forney school district near Dallas recently renamed its stadium in a $1 million, 15-year deal with City Bank. Another Dallas-area district, Highland Park, is asking $10 million to rename Highlander Stadium. The Carroll school district near Fort Worth also is looking to sell naming rights to its stadium. Round Rock officials said the move is necessary to make up for the $17 million it must give to poorer school districts under the state's school funding formula. Round Rock voters approved the new stadium in 2000.

A citizens committee came up with the idea and several other moneymaking proposals in January. Other ideas included selling ads on school buses -- a concept that's still in the works -- and selling advertising space on the stadium's new scoreboard. Pepsi has already bought a $250,000 scoreboard ad.

Businesses will have to decide whether the stadium will draw enough attention to justify the $2 million price tag, said Jef Richards, a University of Texas advertising professor.

"The only way you can price this thing is, how many people are going to see it?" he said. "If they have a lot of games there and a lot of people going in and out year round, it's going to be worth a lot."

Reg Stansbury, Round Rock's purchasing director, said he's optimistic about the initiative.

"We have seen it succeed in other venues," he said. "We don't have any reason not to think we can sell the naming rights."

He added that the district will not consider bids from companies that sell alcohol, tobacco or firearms and will try to keep stadium advertising from being too garish.

"We don't want to totally commercialize our district," he said.

There are no plans to rename the district's other stadium, Dragon Stadium, which sits on Round Rock High School property and is named after the school's football team, Stansbury said.

As for prospective buyers, Stansbury said the district has sent a letter to computer giant Dell Inc. but is keeping its options open.

"From a purchasing perspective, we don't favor anybody," he said. "Whether or not it would be Dell, it would be nice to have someone of that stature in the community."

Dell officials did not return calls Wednesday.

Officials with the similarly cash-strapped Eanes school district said they are intrigued by Round Rock's plan.

Eanes Chief Financial Officer Tom Zimmerer said he supports the movement. Next year, Eanes will give about $55 million to poorer districts and will face a $4.5 million deficit. The district recently remodeled its Chaparral Stadium and renamed the field Ebby Neptune Field after a retired Westlake High School football coach. Eanes sells about $60,000 a year in stadium advertising.

"If we didn't have Ebby Neptune on ours, we'd probably be advertising," he said. "Now, if they (Round Rock officials) get $2 million, I'll talk to Coach Neptune."

Austin schools spokeswoman Kathy Anthony said that despite the district's strained finances, there has been no talk of putting stadium names up for sale.

"We name our facilities after people who have made significant contributions to education in general or to AISD," she said. "This is written district policy."

Stansbury said that in this era of budget cuts, attitudes might change.

"There's not that many school districts that have tried it, but I think you'll find more and more will have to look to these opportunities as operating costs increase," he said.

Round Rock school board Trustee Raymond Hartfield said he supports the initiative and hasn't heard from any naysayers.

"We believe that for some time we have under-marketed some of the valuable assets of the school district," he said. "Naming a stadium is definitely one of those.

"It reduces taxes, that's what it does," he said.

Round Rock athletic director Kelly Reeves said he's not sure what to expect when -- or if -- the bids come rolling in. Companies have until Dec. 9 to make an offer.

"It may be worth $10 million to some people," he said. "It's kind of like a Rembrandt."

[JayBee]

admin said:

The more I research this topic, the more I think selling our stadium naming rights might be the only vehicle we can use to get a new press box. If we can get a deal that will bring us say, $15 million over the next 20 years, we can use some of that money to build a new pressbox and include a set number of luxury suites in the final blueprint - some of which would be set aside for the corporate sponsor.

I thought the new press box was a done deal, or has the interim chancellor been meddling with that too. This whole thing sounds great, but how do we present this to our marketing folks?

[Maxell]

Present it to the Victory Club. Dex, where you at?

[DOOMS]

And check your p.m. too Dex...

[DOOMS]

I just remembered. Washington Post columnist and Pardon the Interruption co-host Michael Wilbon has a sister named Joan Wilbon. Joan's an attorney here in DC who I worked with on a case about four or five years ago. Who cares?

Well, we had a little small talk and she informed me that her brother went to A&T. Not Mike, but another brother. If you look in the media guide or a game program her firm is usually listed as a donor.

Washington post freelance writer field?

Pardon the interruption stadium?

The real ESPN zone?

We probably should get sponsors for every damn thing. I'm talking about sponsors for each end zone, the stadium, the field, parking spaces, the Gold Helmet room, the press box. Alums should be able to bid on stuff too. I'd sponsor a seat in the stadium just to have my name on it for a couple hundred. I'd sponsor a tailgate space that I couldn't or wouldn't actually use just to have my name on it. So long as I got first dibs on the seat and the space every year to pay the yearly fee to actually use them.

An endzone might be out of my league, but if you hear the announcer saying "the Aggies are moving towards the Aggie "Auto Zone" end zone, auto zone, get into the zone" you've just heard a commercial. Broadcasting from the jefferson pilot press box here at Wrangler Aggie Stadium and Krispy Kreme field, with food provided from the Texas Pete concession stand.

Ok, that's a bit much but hell when you're 3 mil a year short of where you really need to be just to keep up you gotta do things you might not like.

[Bornthrilla]

That endzone idea is a great one! I'd bet Autozone would love to have their logo in the corner of both of our endzones.



That reminds me of how the GAP clothing stores bought ad space on a bunch of outfield fences of major league baseball stadiums. There logo was appropriately placed directy in "the gaps" of the left and right-center field.

Hell, just by selling the rights of our endzone we could finance adding field turf to Dell Stadium.

[Bornthrilla]

BTW: If anyone is interested, here is a detailed study on the business of selling stadium naming rights

www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3620/is_200307/ai_n9247659