Like the Franklin Pasture Sports Complex in Lewiston, Newell Stadium in Gloucester, Mass., had a tired look.

Built in 1919 below sea level and next to a canal, the track surrounding the grass field had deteriorated. Grass grew poorly on the field, which was constantly subjected to salty air and water. When the field got wet, it took days to dry. The toilets were condemned some years ago.

“We’ve got a state championship track team,” said Kimberly Patience, the Gloucester High athletic director, “that hadn’t had a home meet in six years.”

It was obvious the stadium needed major renovations, including an artificial surface and a new track. The price tag was around $5 million and no one knew where the money would come from.

Up stepped New Balance. The Boston-based athletic footwear manufacturer donated $500,000 — $50,000 a year — to the city to help renovate Newell Stadium. In return, the place will be called New Balance Track and Field at Newell Stadium for the next 10 years.

Selling those naming rights enabled Gloucester to proceed with the project, which will begin this month and, the townspeople hope, be done by next June.

For now, Gloucester is playing its home football games at a nearby high school, Manchester Essex, and playing soccer games at Gordon College.

A group in Lewiston is hoping to follow that path. City officials approved a plan to sell naming rights to help finance a renovation of the Franklin Pasture Sports Complex. They’d like to raise $5 million.

Jonathan Pope, a retired cabinetmaker and president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Athletic Association, said he’d like to think the group could have raised the money needed for the renovation anyway.

“But probably not as quickly,” he said. “We did get a lot of support from other businesses in town.”

In addition, Pope said the group sold three of the four corners on the scoreboard for $50,000 each to Gorton’s, Cape Ann Savings Bank and Bank Gloucester.

According to Dick Wilson, another member of the athletic association, the city issued a $1.5 million bond and other private contributors added another $400,000. It took nearly three years to raise the money.

“This was 15 years overdue,” said Wilson. “This is a sports-crazed community, too.”

It got to the point that townspeople were upset that their athletes played in such shoddy conditions.

“We’ve had three undefeated Super Bowl champions since I got here,” said Patience, who arrived in 2006. “People were asking, ‘These are the conditions our boys are playing in?’ They deserved better.”

And companies like New Balance are more than willing to step in.

“We look at projects in New England, where many of our associates live,” said spokesperson Amy Dow.

New Balance has three manufacturing plants in Maine — in Norway, Norridgewock and Skowhegan — employing 675 people.

In May 2011, New Balance donated $5 million to the University of Maine in Orono to help support and maintain the New Balance Student Recreation and Fitness Center and aid in the renovations of Memorial Gym. When finished, it will be known as New Balance Field House.

“This was an opportunity for us to help a great institution and provide top of the line athletic resources to its students,” said Dow.

The people can relate.

“It’s all about usage,” said Pope. “Before, we were only able to play varsity games on our field. We couldn’t even practice on it. Now we can use it all day. That was a big selling point.”

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:

mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH

 

Copy the Story Link