Jim Reis and four other members of an Oxford (Mich.) High School booster group will need to pay AstroTurf an estimated $300,000 by Sept. 1, after fundraising stalled for a $400,000 blue field that opened last year. When the boosters financed the project, five of them personally pledged to cover any budget shortfalls. "We're stuck," Reis told The Wall Street Journal, adding that he could sell a motor home in a worst-case scenario but that he doesn't want to take equity out of his house. "We pledged to pay the money. We signed our names. We are going to have to pay [AstroTurf] back."
"I thought we would have the community behind us," added Randy Reason, coach of Oxford's middle-school football team and another booster who backed the loan. "We thought the money would be attainable fairly easily." Others on the line for $60,000 each include Detroit Lions executive Bill Keenist and Oxford parks and recreation director Ron Davis.
Oxford is a prosperous community, but voters there rejected a 2010 bond issue to raise money for a new synthetic turf field, an amenity many rival schools already had. Voters, did, however, approve a measure to improve the field's drainage system and replace the track. Boosters then began raising money for a new field themselves, the Journal reported, securing the loan and selling sponsorships to local companies that could have their names and logos stitched into the turf. They also collected $1,000 from individuals and businesses.
As the Journal's Neal E. Boudette writes: A committee began working with ProGrass LLC of Pittsburgh, which produced engineering work and a design for the field. To make Oxford's field unique, they decided to go with blue turf - similar to Boise State University's football field - plus yellow end zones, the colors of the Oxford Wildcats. In June 2011, as work on the track and drainage system started, sponsorships were lagging behind, and ProGrass pulled out.
With the 2011 football season a few weeks away, Mr. Reis and the Oxford turf committee turned to AstroTurf, of Dalton, Ga. Mr. Reis and four other committee members personally pledged to back the loan, and the school board approved the arrangement, Mr. Reis said. ...
Fundraising topped out at about $86,000. In recent weeks, boosters have been selling advertisements in football game programs.
Earlier this week, this message was posted on the Oxford Community Schools' website: "We need the help of everyone who ever wore a Wildcat uniform or hailed the blue and gold in Oxford's most celebrated venue. Help us keep the color in our competitions!"
"It makes us a little nervous," Reis admitted to ClickOnDetroit.com, which ran a story in the hopes of soliciting donors. "It's not about us five. It's about the people and the kids that get to use this field for years to come."
