Private Money Supports Athletics, Arts in Mitchell

Yesterday's Mitchell Daily Republic reports that the Earl Nordby family has donated $240,000 toward the construction of a 10-field soccer complex. That's over an eighth of the money needed to build what promoters hope to make the best soccer complex in the state. This donation comes after a 2005 donation from the Nordbys of $100,000 to help the Mitchell Area Community Theatre build its new facility. In return, the Nordbys, Pepsi bottling magnates, get the Pepsi name on both facilities.

I'm not terribly fond of corporate naming rights, but I've said elsewhere that selling such rights might be one of the quickest ways to draw a big tub of money toward projects like the new events center that was voted down in Madison in April. The majority of voters may have said they don't have the money for a project like that, but apparently there are private donors who have more than enough money to help float such a project and are just itching for the chance to dish that money out. All they ask in return is a word or two on a sign. Given a choice between giving some rich companies a little free advertising in a public venue and saddling taxpayers with a long-term debt burden, I'll take the former.

But this discussion may be all academic: the gym supporters haven't made any public statements since their drubbing at the polls. No one in a position to make it happen has breathed a word about any Plan B, except to maintain there isn't one. Come on, fellas -- does Bulldog Pride really give up that easily? The Nordbys are just one example of the money that's out there, if you know where to look.