EDITORIAL: Selling naming rights great way for schools to generate needed cash

For area schools, such a thing may actually exist — naming rights. Penn-Harris-Madison schools have netted $600,000 from selling naming rights to their athletic facilities and district leaders are looking to go a step further by selling naming rights to buildings and maybe even rooms within buildings. 

So far, Elkhart County school districts haven’t tapped this new source revenue. However, Elkhart Community Schools have broached the concept of selling naming rights to North Side Gym.

Selling naming rights for athletic facilities is hardly new. Professional and even some college arenas have received corporate sponsorship for decades. Very few stadiums and arenas in the big four sports leagues — NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB — have no corporations in their names. (See: Comerica Park, U.S. Cellular Field, Lucas Oil Stadium, etc.)

For schools, athletic facilities’ naming rights seem like an untapped resource with great potential. Again, just look at Penn. That $600,000 could pay the salaries of several teachers, for example. Or it could pay the maintenance on the actual facilities, so that money could be redirected for educational purposes.

Either way, it’s a win-win if handled well. The companies get their names attached to a major community gathering point and the schools receive more money to help educate students. 

However, there are some pitfalls with selling off naming rights:

• The companies be allowed to buy the name only. Side deals like VIP access for company employees, special accommodations for clients or cross-promotions with the games overstep ethical bounds. While putting a new logo by the gate doesn’t affect the game or how the community experiences it, adding perks for corporate hotshots would take away from the truly amateur nature of high school sports.

• School administrators need to be very careful vetting potential sponsors. Obviously, any companies primarily selling alcohol, tobacco, pornography or anything unwholesome should be turned away immediately. Beyond that, school leaders should be cognizant that they are attaching the district’s name to the company as much as the company is attaching itself to the district. If the goes bankrupt or gets caught using unethical business practices, that reflects poorly on the schools. One need look no further than Enron Field in Houston to see what happened when the company went belly up.

• Naming rights need to stop with athletic facilities. Education should be clear of any bias or influence, corporate or otherwise, perceived or real — period. Selling exclusive rights for beverage companies to place vending machines in schools is close to the line. Selling naming rights to entire buildings or classrooms definitely goes way over the line. The temptation will be there to sell more, but schools shouldn’t bite no matter how tough their finances get.