Lincoln Public Schools may be selling the naming rights to Lincoln Northwest's football stadium, but don't expect corporate logos to be painted on the field or stitched to players' jerseys.
The LPS school board is looking at revising its policy and regulations governing advertising on school grounds after Union Bank & Trust offered $1.5 million for the naming rights for the stadium at West Holdrege and Northwest 48th streets.
The agreement, which the board will vote on at its next meeting on June 28, means the name Union Bank Stadium will adorn the facility -- including signage both in and outside the stadium -- for the next 20 years.
Advertising has been used on school grounds in some capacity before -- including in student publications and on scoreboards.
The district's Career Academy and focus programs also promote the names of business partners, while the names of families who've handed over large charitable donations still adorn LPS sporting venues, including Seacrest Field and Beechner Athletic Complex.
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But selling corporate naming rights is "new territory" for LPS, said Bob Rauner, who chairs the board's planning committee that looked at the policy changes. The board wanted rules that balance raising money to relieve the burden on taxpayers and "not (using) our kids as advertising billboards," Rauner said.
That includes setting limitations, such as regulating the size of signage and restricting its use on the field or players' jerseys, while also planning for contingencies, like if a sponsor sold its business.
On Tuesday, the board gave first-round consideration to revisions to Policy 1112 that adds "activity and athletic facilities" as permissible space for advertising or promotional materials.
Specific changes to regulations — which outline how a policy should be carried out — are still in the works and will likely come before the board at its next meeting June 28, said Liz Standish, associate superintendent for business affairs.
"The highest priority is to make students the central focus," Standish said. "We want the event to be absolutely about students."
Under the current policy and the regulations undergirding it, advertising and promotional materials are limited to public performance facilities, non-instructional print material and the district website.
Advertisements must be related to goods and services -- meaning no political or religious messaging -- and cannot promote controversial topics or age-inappropriate products, such as alcohol.
The policy also states that the overall benefits to the students must outweigh the advertising or promotional benefit.
The Union Bank deal meets that criteria, Rauner said.
"It's not going to get in the way of the kids," he said.
Conversations about looking to corporate and charitable donations for the athletic facilities began when the district was drafting the $290 million bond issue eventually approved in 2020 to pay for two new high schools, a new elementary school and shared sports complexes, said Director of Operations Scott Wieskamp.
The bond set aside $15.4 million for the complexes at Northwest and Standing Bear High School, which will be shared by city schools, but that was, in reality, only half of what was needed for complete build-out, Wieskamp said.
"We knew we needed to seek partners," Wieskamp said.
That led to the LPS Foundation and Union Bank partnering on a naming rights deal, which could be just the first in other similar agreements. Wieskamp said there have also been talks of the foundation starting a capital campaign to raise funding.
"I would say there are a lot of behind-the-scenes discussions going on," he said.
The stadium, which will be shared by city schools and can also host soccer matches and track meets, is part of an athletic complex at Lincoln Northwest that will include baseball and soccer fields, tennis courts and a practice softball field.
The Northwest stadium will initially be able to seat about 2,800 to 3,000 people and will feature concessions buildings and a press box. The district hopes to eventually seat about 5,000.
Standing Bear High School, which will open in southeast Lincoln in 2023, will also be home to a shared athletic complex, including softball fields and a soccer field that will be able to seat up to 800 to 1,000 people.
Construction is continuing at Union Bank Stadium and Lincoln Northwest, which is set to host its first football game -- against Ralston High School -- Aug. 26.