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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Making business sense
(An artist rendering of a renovated Welcome Stadium)
With other area hospital networks giving big money to sponsor stadiums in suburbs like Centerville and Springboro as part of their marketing efforts, it was surprising to hear Kettering Health Networks President Fred Manchur say Tuesday that a $1 million contribution that earned the hospital system naming rights for the new turf at Welcome Stadium could not be justified as a business expense.
Manchur said after a press conference that no matter how they added it up, the hospital’s executives felt the contribution for Welcome did not make sense from a business standpoint. But Kettering, which has long viewed its relationship with the district for sports medicine services primarily as community service, decided to give the money anyway out of a sense of mission.
So to recap, when a hospital sponsors an athletic facility in the suburbs, it’s marketing. But when a hospital sponsors an athletic facility in the city, it can only be considered charity?
For more on Kettering’s gift, here is the story I wrote about this for Wednesday’s paper:
One way to look at Kettering Health Networks $1 million contribution toward the rebirth of Dayton schools-owned Welcome Stadium is as an investment in marketing. Kettering’s President Fred Manchur doesn’t look at it that way.
“This really doesn’t make business sense,” Manchur said at a press conference Tuesday.
Sports stadiums in suburbs like Centerville and Springboro may be attracting big dollar corporate sponsorship from other area hospital systems seeking to promote their brands to consumers, but having Kettering’s name on the field at Welcome on the city’s showcase stadium really did not add up, Manchur said.
As a marketing or advertising vehicle, the $1 million contribution could not be cost justified, he said. But part of Kettering’s mission is to serve its community and for more than two decades, that has included supporting the city schools’ athletic programs with sport medicine services and even providing discounted or free medical treatment or even surgeries to needy city athletes.
In the context of the hospital’s greater mission, the gift made sense, Manchur said. “You have to take away the business aspect and look at what is the right thing to do,” he said.
Kettering’s gift will be combined with state grants for a $3.6 million total renovation of the stadium before the fall sports season.
Welcome Stadium first opened in 1949 after years of private fund-raising efforts in the community, which paid for much of the cost of building it. The district owns the stadium and most of the parking lot that surrounds it and the University of Dayton Arena.
Superintendent Percy Mack said the goal is to host more revenue-producing events at the stadium. Already, the Cincinnati-based Skyline Football Classic has agreed to expand with season-opening games in Dayton at Welcome. The Classic will be the first games on the new turf on Aug. 21, pairing Lakota’s east and west high schools against Centerville and Wayne high schools.
The city’s football schedule opens the following day with Thurgood Marshall High School’s home opener.
Mack said the field also will be lined for soccer, which he hopes will draw revenue-producing soccer events, such as state tournament matches. The stadium has not been a major source of outside funds in recent years. In fact it was losing significant money three years ago. Treasurer Stan Lucas said Welcome so far this year has turned a small profit on a cash basis, but when depreciation of the building and equipment is figured in those profits likely will be wiped out.
(Image courtesy of Lorenz & Williams)
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