Although the prospect of selling naming rights or advertisements on the new McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium press box appears at present to be a non-starter for the district’s board, trustees did direct administration to work with legal counsel to develop a basis for sponsorship and naming rights in a general sense.
Trustees also want administration to ensure that sponsorship and naming rights are not confused with naming a building in honor of someone, an action the district does have a familiar process for.
McAllen ISD’s public relations department could not by press time provide The Monitor with details on the press box project itself, including information on its construction timeline, its total cost or other details.
The district currently has several facility sponsorship’s from community members, including for Memorial’s field and scoreboard.
Trustee Conrado “Ito” Alvarado asked for the board to discuss potential sponsorship revenue streams related to the press box.
“I know we talked before in the past about potential naming rights,” he said. “I’ve heard through the rumor mill there might be some entities interested, so all I wanted to do was bring it back to the board.”
Others on the board opposed that possibility on a variety of grounds.
Alvarado, who acknowledged the idea seemed lacking in support, noted that the district’s financial situation likely calls for difficult choices.
The board had a particularly tough time sorting out the budget this summer, trying to rectify a desire to increase employee pay with a tight financial situation.
“At the end, don’t say we’ve gotta make tough decisions and just talk about it. We actually have to do something about it,” Alvarado said Monday.
Three trustees flat out said they certainly or almost-certainly would oppose sponsorship’s for the press box.
Some, including Sofia Peña, said they were concerned about those sponsorship’s jeopardizing the mission of the building and the athletics, media and district personnel it’s meant to serve.
“I think that once you start selling advertisements, they’re gonna want something in return,” she said. “They’re gonna want luxury access up there. And how much of the general public really gets to go up there? Pretty much none of it, so I don’t think it should have signs or banners or anybody’s name on it.”
Trustee Debbie Crane Aliseda said she was flat out against the commercialization of any district facilities, saying she would favor calling the press box an alumni center and using available space as a sort of museum.
“There should be old uniforms, old programs, old things there so when you come for any function…you can be able to go into the ticket office there at the alumni center and look around at the history — and it’s good for all campuses,” she said.
Trustee Sam Saldivar, who counted himself as a likely opponent of sponsorship’s for the box, said he felt the district lacked policy infrastructure for selling facility advertisements or naming rights.
Particularly worrying about how the board would determine who could and could not advertise on district facilities, Saldivar described launching into sponsorship’s as walking into the jaws of a potential trap.
Other trustees echoed that sentiment and worried future boards would not be as cautious.
Administration developing a basis for sponsorship’s and naming rights is intended to protect those boards.
“So if it’s not this board that decides they’re gonna do it, maybe there’s a board down the road that says ‘This is something we want to do,’” Board President Tony Forina said. “And I would much rather have them have a game plan already in place…”
