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Parks Consider Naming Rights

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By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 23, 2007

TAMPA - Tampa Bay area sports fans are already used to seeing some of their sports icons play on fields named after multimillion-dollar corporations.

Parents could soon have the same experience, cheering on their children as they play on fields named after local companies.

The naming and advertising rights to some county parks soon could be for sale.

Hillsborough County's cash-strapped Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department recoups only about 2 percent to 3 percent of its overall $52 million budget from user fees. The department's budget comes almost solely from property taxes, which were cut by lawmakers this year and could be cut further in coming months.

That places Hillsborough well below the national average of other parks departments, some of which generate 50 percent or more of their budgets from fees and nonproperty tax sources.

Director Mark Thornton said selling naming and other rights to some of the county's 213 athletic fields could be a major source of money for his department - and keep his agency from having to raise other fees.

"You can't come to Tampa and not see what naming rights have done," he said, noting that all the Bay area's major sports teams play in facilities named after corporations.
County commissioners traditionally have wanted to keep user fees low, he said. The result has been that Hillsborough doesn't charge some fees that it has on the books, namely a $5 per player fee for youth sports leagues.

Thornton said he doesn't want to add any fees to youth sports leagues, since the cost of participation and travel is already high. He also doesn't want to automatically raise fees for after school parks programs. The county currently only charges $50 per child during the summer, which Thornton said is identical to one offered by the school district.

That program is offered on a "first-come, first served" basis; Thornton said he may recommend a sliding fee scale to help offset costs.

But it is the selling of naming and advertising rights to county parks and facilities that Thornton thinks offers the greatest potential to infuse the department with more money.

"We are behind the curve," Thornton said. "We know what we need to do."

When a new Carrollwood Cultural Center opens later this year, at least one of its rooms will likely bear the name of a paying sponsor, Thornton said. That deal could net the county up to $12,000, he said.
County commissioners are considering spending up to $40 million from sales tax collections to expand the county's parks department. Thornton's department is supposed to plan how best to spend the money and find ways to increase the $2 million the department collected in fees last year.

Other communities have considered similar plans.

A soccer complex in Montgomery County, Md., is named after Discovery Communications Inc.

Officials in Stockton, Calif., another state that has contended with property tax reductions, have been trying to sell naming rights to a sports arena for several years.

And already, some commissioners have said they want to be careful about who gets to name what. "I don't want every little library and park to be named the Federal Express Park," commission Chairman Ken Hagan said.

Commissioner Brian Blair, who proposed spending at least part of the $40 million on new parks facilities, said he supports selling everything from naming rights to contracts for a certain soda or drink vendor to provide exclusive service at county facilities.

It's an idea supported by some youth league officials. Scott Levinson, president of the Tampa Bay Youth Football League, said individual parks should be run like businesses.

He said he's proposed replacing the grass at Skyway Park near Tampa International Airport with synthetic grass - a move that could save thousands of dollars in maintenance fees. The youth league would pay for most of the costs, provided the county gives it a long-term lease, he said.

His league this year entered into a partnership with Dick's Sporting Goods to raise money for league activities. The league features 12 teams and nearly 3,000 children.

Both Thornton and Levinson believe that sponsors will clamor to attach their names to parks, or hang advertisements on outfield walls. Blair has also proposed that some of the new parks facilities be pay-for-play fields that can be spread throughout the county.

Thornton will present his options for increasing the parks department's revenues to commissioners in February.

He said that if the county did sell naming rights to any facilities, it would be tastefully done. "I don't have to generate a lot of money to preserve all 213 fields," Thornton said.

PARK USER FEES

Miami-Dade County... 35.7

Collier County... 29.6

Broward County... 21.2

Pinellas County... 13

Hillsborough County... 2.7

Source: Florida Benchmarking Consortium

How Hillsborough County stacks up as far as the percentage of its budget that was paid by user fees in fiscal year 2006: Reporter Anthony McCartney can be reached at (813) 259-7616 or amccartney@tampatrib.com. How Hillsborough County stacks up as far as t

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