BEAUMONT, Texas — A Houston company is offering to sponsor a student career summit and student and teacher awards with substantial cash prizes as part of its proposal to purchase naming rights to the Beaumont school district's Memorial Stadium.
In a 6 - 1 vote, the Beaumont Independent School District board approved a bid by Doggett Equipment Services Group in April 2023 to purchase naming rights to Memorial Stadium for $1.1 million over 10 years.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The above video first aired on May 18, 2023.)
The school board will be discussing the company's plan for rebranding the stadium on Thursday night at it's regularly scheduled meeting.
The company is requesting that the stadium be named "The Doggett Toyota, Ford & John Deere Stadium," according to documents provided to the school board.
In addition to renaming the stadium, the proposal also requests that a full page ad featuring the company be placed on the back cover of the programs distributed at every football game held at the stadium.
The company is also proposing that it sponsor an annual student essay contest and a photo contest with cash prizes totaling $36,000 each year according to the document.
The top three essays and photos would each win $1,000, the top ten would win $500 and the top 100 would win $100 each.
An annual career summit for BISD students is also proposed by Doggett to be held at Ford Park to "provide an invaluable platform for students to explore various career options, gain insights from professionals, and make informed decisions about their future paths."
For teachers, the company is proposing a teacher of the semester award to be selected by the board and include a $5,000 prize according to the document.
RELATED: Beaumont ISD school board approves $1.1M bid for Memorial Stadium naming rights in 6-1 vote
Beaumont ISD Superintendent Dr. Shannon Allen previously told 12News the money made from the bid can be used to possibly get a new scoreboard and maintain the stadium.
School Board President Robert C. Dunn Sr. says money can also be used to help give teachers raises.
"We've lost many millions of dollars because of our ADA average daily attendance so we haven't always had enough money to give our teachers raises so this will give us some leeway here to get some thing in the district done," said Dunn.
Beaumont ISD joins 24 other districts in Texas that have sold the naming rights to their stadiums.
Prior to an April 20 meeting, board member Joe Evans said he's ready to see the stadium given a new name.
"Anything that's pumping revenue into our educational system, i'm all for it. So, I've done the research on that company, they seem like qualified, great company, the ownership is here locally now, so they're part of the community," Evans said.
Doggett is one of North America's largest heavy equipment distributors, with annual sales in excess of $2 billion and a workforce of more than 2,100 full-time employees, according to their proposal package.
The stadium first opened in 2010 and was named after Carrol "Butch" Thomas the school district's first black superintendent.
In 2018, Beaumont ISD voted to change the name to Beaumont ISD Memorial Stadium. This came three years after a forensic audit revealed Thomas' administration mismanaged a $389 million bond back in 2007 which funded the stadium.
In January 2022, the board passed a motion to change the name, but school officials didn’t specify if it would be back to Carrol “Butch” Thomas.
Four people voted in favor of the name change, two voted against and one person abstained.
The January 2022 meeting was the third time in four years the school board has discussed the renaming of the Beaumont ISD Memorial Stadium.
Several members wanted to bring back the 'Butch.’ The name change was rejected and the name 'Memorial Stadium' still stands.