BUTLER TWP — Butler School Board members agreed at their meeting Monday to seek naming rights for 14 athletic facilities. The motion by Don Pringle, board president, did not include Art Bernardi Stadium.

“The word 'available' is the operative word,” Pringle told Bill Halle, board vice president, who wants the stadium naming rights put up for sale.

“Precluding anything to me is just wrong,” Halle said, explaining the sale of stadium naming rights has the potential to bring in the greatest amount of money for the district.

Board members said that names can be revoked only if the honoree has committed a serious crime, which is existing policy.

Last December, on a motion by Halle, the board agreed to sell the naming rights to “all facilities,” but then settled on the 14 sites instead.

Now, the district will focus on selling naming rights for the football field, the stadium annex and the basketball court, according to the motion.

Other available sites include the intermediate high school gymnasium, the intermediate high school soccer game field, the senior high baseball and softball fields, the senior high tennis courts, the intermediate and high school swimming pools, the downtown athletic field, the soccer press box, and the secondary buildings' fitness centers.

Cathy Rodgers, director of business services, said she will research whether sales revenue can be deposited into the district's general fund, as board members discussed.

Previously, funds from naming rights sales went to the Golden Tornado Foundation, where they were deposited into an account to pay for a turf field replacement.

The district has raised $130,000 in naming rights sales so far, with contracts that run through the “useful life of the facility.”

Butler Health System paid $50,000 for the softball, soccer and basketball scoreboards' naming rights; NexTier Bank paid $50,000 for stadium press box naming rights; and Armstrong paid $30,000 for the stadium's spirit booth naming rights.

The policy on naming rights suggests much higher rates could be sought, as much as 25 percent of construction costs or market value. Those amounts are flexible, the policy says.