Schools
Pepsi Donates Scoreboard in Exchange for Concession Rights
Pepsi Co. soft drinks will be sold at high school sporting events and in return the school gets a scoreboard and $7,500.
Art Colley, the business and technology director for the Brookfield public schools, said that Pepsi, which has a distribution center at 30 Pocono Road, will soon be erecting a scoreboard near the Brookfield High School (BHS) softball field and donating a combined $7,500 to the school’s athletic program over the next five years in return for having the soda sold at concessions at the sports games.
He said some parents of BHS students work for Pepsi and spoke with then-Principal Bryan Luizzi “during the second half of the last academic year” about the company helping the sports program.
Colley said a tentative agreement was reached in late spring and the Board of Education (BOE) approved the arrangements at its August 4 meeting.
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He said the scoreboard, which probably costs about $7,000 to $8,000, will be installed within weeks and will primarily be used for softball games.
Colley emphasized that there would be no advertising on the scoreboard and that the agreement conforms to the healthy schools initiative that former Gov. M. Jodi Rell of Brookfield signed banning soda beverages from being sold in schools during the academic day.
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Colley said in return for the donations, the concession stands at the athletic events will be selling Pepsi beverages.
“It’s a win-win situation,” he said.
“It is an extremely generous donation,” BOE Chairman Ray DiStephan said.
He said over the recent years various school districts have had to seek additional funding for athletic events as budgets have been cut.
Brookfield, for example, has had since the fall 2008 and the Brookfield High School Athletic Association (BHSAA) has been raising money to support sports by getting businesses to advertise on banners that have been placed on the fence around the BHS stadium field.
Late last summer the BOE held a ceremony at the stadium field to that was donated by Iroquois Gas Transmission System, which operates compressor facilities near High Meadow Road.
Colley said a formal dedication ceremony for the Pepsi scoreboard will probably be held this fall.
