Colorado State Univ. has "received a gift commitment" of $20M over 30 years to "transfer the 'Sonny Lubick Field' designation from Hughes Stadium to the new on-campus stadium scheduled to open" for the '17 football season, according to Terry Frei of the DENVER POST. CSU AD Joe Parker said that the school will "continue to seek a separate naming rights deal for the stadium." Frei noted the Lubick Field contribution is "especially eye-opening because the annual average of $666,666 is within the parameters CSU is seeking for the actual stadium naming rights -- and the anonymous gift is for a longer term than a naming rights agreement is expected to be." Parker said that the commitment for naming rights "would be 'at least $500,000 annual commitment for probably 10 years.'" Parker: "We have the possibility to find a corporate partner that might go more than that. I think the upper bound would be $1 million, so somewhere between that $500,000 and $1 million (annually) would be the logical space for us for stadium naming." Parker added that the $220M stadium project is "on schedule and on track to be on budget." CSU "has received deposits and commitments" for 70% of the premium seating -- already "close to the target under the stadium finance plan" approved by the CSU BOG (DENVER POST, 3/26). In Colorado, Kelly Lyell noted that the playing field at Hughes Stadium, the 48-year-old facility CSU is leaving after the '16 season, was "renamed in Lubick's honor" in '04 as a condition of a $15.2M gift to the university by local philanthropist Pat Stryker and the Bohemian Foundation "that was used to complete major renovations at the stadium." However, Bohemian Foundation Communications Dir June Greist said that Stryker "is not the donor" of the new funds (Ft. Collins COLORADOAN, 3/26).
