Saugus athletic committee wants ads at ball fields

SAUGUS – Members of the School Committee Athletic Subcommittee said they plan to look into placing advertisements at Stackpole Field and along the chain link fence on Pierce Memorial Drive at the high school to help reduce athletic user fees.During Monday?s subcommittee meeting, Athletic Director Mike Nelson pointed to the number of sports played at Stackpole Field, including football and field hockey in the fall and girls and boys lacrosse and baseball in the spring, as a factor in the plan.?You?d be able to sell every square inch of that fence, in my honest opinion,” said Nelson. “There is so much action that goes on down there. That place is packed.”Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said the idea could be a good source of revenue for the school.?It would have to be controlled to some extent,” said Bisignani. “I wouldn?t want to see the schools plastered with signs all over. If it?s appropriate and within the regulations of the sign bylaw, then that will have to be a decision made by the School Committee and the town.”Any proposal to place advertisements at either field would have to go through Town Meeting to get approval and would have to abide by the town?s sign bylaws.School Committee member Arthur Grabowski said he suspects there will be some opposition to the proposal, but said any bylaw regarding new signage would have to be very specific as to the size of the signs and where the money will go.?How are people going to vote against it when you?re telling them exactly where that money is going to be spent ?” asked Grabowski. “This will alleviate some of the stress and help the taxpayers because we?re trying to reduce that fee that parents will have to be.”With a Special Town Meeting scheduled for November, any proposal likely wouldn?t be submitted until the annual Town Meeting next year to take effect next fall.Selectman Stephen Horlick said Tuesday other fields around Saugus already have advertisements, including Grabowski Field and World Series Park. Any proposal to add signs at the high school and at Stackpole Field would be a continuation of that, said Horlick.?So you already have a middle school and an elementary school that both have fields that have advertisements,” said Horlick. “If it?s going to bring in additional revenue for the kids to keep the user fees low? I?m sure the people in charge that are going to look at this will say we already have advertising and they?ll make the right decision.”Subcommittee member Jeanne Meuse pointed to other school districts, including Wakefield, that have advertisements, and said any plans to do the same in Saugus will be closely monitored.?There isn?t a school system that you don?t go by where there isn?t a field with a fence with a sign on it,” said Meuse “I see them every day when I drive past Wakefield High. The idea is that it?s going to be a uniform situation so it doesn?t look all hodge-podged and thrown together.”The Athletic Subcommittee didn?t take any votes on the issue and plan on looking into the matter further before making any recommendations.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter @MattTempesta.