Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Seneca Valley sells stadium naming rights

Way to go Mr. Caprara. Well done.
Seneca Valley sells stadium naming rights The Seneca Valley school board last night sold the naming rights of its football stadium to NexTier Bank in what may be the first transaction of its kind in Western Pennsylvania.

Raider Stadium will now be known as NexTier Stadium under a 10-year agreement whereby NexTier will pay the Butler County school district $50,000 over 10 years plus the expense of new signs.

Signage, including a NexTier Stadium name above the stadium entrance, the NexTier logo bar across visitors' side bleachers and NexTier logo flags on light posts, could be in place before the district's June 2 graduation at the stadium.

It is believed that this is the first partnership in Western Pennsylvania in which a high school stadium takes the name of a corporate sponsor, according to Greg Caprara, athletic director for the school district.
So, the Dormont Swim Pool naming rights should be the next on the auction block.

And, I'd love to see a region wide sales effort. This was part of my position paper on parks a few years ago. Sell the naming rights to lots of assets -- but do so in a more ogananized and more profitable way.

Just as the high-end auction houses put together the big players for a bidding event -- the same could be organized for other efforts in a catalog and in person.

Heck, perhaps one of Terry Bradshaw's game-day jerseys would have been featured as a 'down-payment' to create the endowment.

FWIW, Greg Caprara, A.D., hired me as the varsity swim coach at Fox Chapel for the girls and boys teams a couple of years ago. We surfed through a transition season and this year, the (girl) Foxes got 2nd in the WPIALs. Greg is good for sports in the region as he is a 'think outside the box' leader.

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