County mulls naming rights for parks

In a move to save taxpayer dollars, the Knox County Parks and Recreation Department is looking into a naming rights program for our parks and trails.

The proposal would allow residents and corporations to donate money through the non-profit Legacy Parks Foundation (it also would need Knox County Commission approval) in order to name a park, trail or even an amenity, such as a pavilion.

The plan, proposed by senior director Joe Mack, was unveiled to the County Commission earlier this week. Mack did something similar in Covington where he served as the director of the parks and recreation department there.

“It helped me build numerous facilities and renovate facilities at no cost to the government,” he told commissioners.

There is not necessarily a threshold someone has to give to name a facility, Mack said. The naming rights agreement will be used to negotiate the term and amount based on the county’s needs and size of the donation from the donor.

For example, a $20,000 donation could fund a small outdoor fitness equipment project that would result in a sign recognizing the donor at the site of the project. A $500,000 donation could fund the resurfacing of a grass softball field to a synthetic turf softball field and result in the naming rights agreement between the county and donor for that field.

Additionally, there are opportunities at parks that are already named. For instance, if Knox TN Today agreed to make a donation large enough to resurface all five grass fields to synthetic turf multipurpose fields at John Tarleton Park, the county and Knox TN Today could enter into an agreement to name the facility the KnoxTNToday Complex at John Tarleton Park, a move that would preserve the original name of the park and also recognize the donor for their donation.

Also, keep in mind, just because someone donates, it comes down to the commission accepting the donation on behalf of the county. The conversations could end right there if the commission refused to accept the money.

And, as my colleague Abbey Harris pointed out: “You couldn’t donate enough to do the fields at Tarleton and name them Sports Are Dumb Fields at John Tarleton Park. It wouldn’t be a good fit for the space, so there would have to be discussion on what would work for both groups.”

In other Parks and Recreation news, we had crews at the Sportspark in Karns earlier this week removing the small mulch and tree islands in the walkway. The trees were dying and diseased and the roots were cracking the concrete. We left them there as long as possible and tried to save them, but in the end it didn’t work out. We’re going to pour concrete in the area and free up the space.

“I think this will be better overall for people to sit and spread out,” said Jason Halliburton, who is over the department’s maintenance team. “We will let them bring in tents/tarps for shade.”

The supplies for the new dog park at Beverly Park arrived, so we hope to start that next week or the following week.

Out west, our Concord Park team was busy this week trimming trees and painting over the pumphouse (some knucklehead covered it in graffiti) and replacing a batting cage at one of the fields. Our carpenters also helped set up new gates at Concord Park. We also have other crews throughout the parks system and House Mountain, trimming trees and cleaning trails.

And, as always, our one-man machine Frank Christian was out and about. He told me this week that he’s been busy installing seven new signs and pitching in to help fix one of the fields at Austin-East that was vandalized. He helped with some rock work and upgrades.

On the recreation side, folks can sign up now for Knox County Youth Fastpitch Recreation Softball. The link is here. Knox County partners with local youth sports associations who oversee the community-based teams in the many communities across Knox County. The recreational youth baseball/softball season is played in the spring at ballparks throughout the county. Players are encouraged to participate at the local ballpark to build friendships and foster character-building activities while also developing athletic skills in the youth recreational baseball and softball leagues.

For player registration, please visit the website of the youth sports association or contact the commissioner to register for youth baseball and softball during the spring season (March-June) as well as the fall season (August-October).

And in other news, the results are in for the Gibbs Youth Sports Advisory Board: