Brookfield Local School District has sold naming rights to the athletic complex on the school campus, but that doesn’t mean it will leave behind the name of the old Addison Road field.
The school board on Nov. 20 approved a five-year agreement with an anonymous donor to name the complex Brookfield Alumni Stadium. The donor will give the district $150,000, which will go into a permanent improvement fund to help pay for future phases to build out the stadium, said district Treasurer Jordan Weber.
However, the district will call the football/soccer field itself George A. Nicholas Field, which was the name of the now-abandoned football field on Addison Road. Nicholas, an army private, was the first township resident killed in World War II. The plaque honoring Nicholas will be moved from the Addison Road field to the campus athletic complex, said Supt. Toby Gibson.
“We were just over the moon when he approached us about it,” Weber said of the donor who bought the naming rights.
“We haven’t really pushed that out,” Gibson said of naming and sponsorship opportunities. “It fell in our laps, so to speak.”
“One of the reasons he wanted to do that was because we were so fortunate to have so many alumni of the school work on the project as it unfolded,” Weber said
Many Brookfield graduates were hired to ready the field for use for football games, often donating work beyond what their contracts specified, officials said.
“He wanted to honor some of the work that they did,” Weber said.
The architectural firm hired for the stadium build out, Team 8e Architecture LLC, Canfield, is working on plans for a concession stand and rest rooms, and specifications for baseball and softball fields at the complex, Gibson said. Officials also are trying to nail down a cost estimate for installing artificial turf at the field.
The school is promoting – on social media – sponsorship opportunities for a group called the Warrior Turf Foundation. The postings say the group is not affiliated with the school district, but football coach and school Maintenance Supervisor Randy Clark is listed as the chairman and the school campus’s address, 614 Bedford Road, is listed as the group’s address. For information: contact Clark at 330-509-2164.
