Schools Get Sponsor Help From Businesses Some People Concerned, But New Facilities Are Going Up

Steve Cutlip led Arvada West High to the state football championship last fall on a bumpy field of hard-packed dirt painted green to look like grass.

The 17 teams that share the field had worn down the turf halfway into the season, something that had happened over and over in the past two decades or so.

“In my sophomore year, my friend was running across this field and got his foot caught,” said Cutlip, the team’s quarterback. “He rolled it and broke it and had to have surgery. You shouldn’t have bumps and divots on a football field.”

Desperate for a new field but lacking the money to build one, the Jefferson County school system looked to the corporate world last year, and now the district has deals pending with US West and Pepsi-Cola Co.

Instead of building one new stadium, the district is building two. Both will have US West in the name.

“We weren’t even sure how much people were willing to pay. We were amazed,” said Don Oatman, a deputy superintendent for the district.

Despite criticism that companies are exploiting youngsters, the idea is spreading. Boosters at Lakota West High School in West Chester, Ohio, are hoping a corporate sponsor will spend up to $600,000 for the right to put its name on the school’s sports complex.

“It’s getting to the point where if everybody else can do it, why not us?” said Blair Irvin, assistant commissioner of the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

Cutlip said young people are barraged with advertising, and he sees these partnerships as a way companies can pay students back for buying their products.

“If companies want to sponsor a safe playing field, it shows they really care,” the teenager said. “And if they’re going to help us out, why shouldn’t we buy their products and help them out?”

The district will sell 10-year bonds to pay for the two stadiums, which will cost a total of $12.5 million. The long-distance phone company US West, Pepsi and other companies will pay off the bonds. So far, sponsors have pledged $4.1 million.

In return, the companies will get exclusive marketing rights in the state’s largest school district, with 87,000 students.

Under one of the deals, US West will pay $2 million to have its name on both stadiums, and to erect a 4-by-16-foot sign at both sites and 2-by-3-foot signs in the gym of every high school in the district. The company also will be allowed to have students sell phone cards with their school logos door-to-door.

“The local phone market is increasingly competitive. This was an opportunity to reinvest back into the community, and helps us reach an audience of current customers and future customers, young people who will be buying their first phones,” US West spokesman Dave Beigie said.

Under its own deal, Pepsi will pay $2.1 million for the exclusive right to sell cola products in the school system.

The school board is expected to approve the US West and Pepsi contracts in the next few months.

In addition, IN2 Sports wants the right to market athletic wear, and Columbia Health One, a health care company, is in line to provide athletic training. Negotiations are also under way with banks and auto dealerships.