Board of Ed OK's McDonald's Ad For Field Press Box (With Poll)

The Stonington Board of Education on Thursday approved the first ever McDonald’s ad that will appear on the press box at the Stonington High School football field. It will be unveiled Nov. 23, the day before the annual Thanksgiving Day football game against the Westerly Bulldogs; this year will be the 152nd meeting of the rivals.

McDonald's had wanted its sign to show a Big Mac with the caption, ‘Don’t stare too long you’ll miss the game.’ But the school board preferred the ad that shows a bite taken out of the ‘golden arches,’ with the line, ‘Hungry as a Bear’.

“It’s cute,” said member Alisa Morrison.

Schools operations manager Bill King made a presentation to the town Planning and Zoning Commission in August asking for permission to erect a new scoreboard that would feature advertising panels. He said it was one of a number of proposals to try and garner needed revenue for school sports and other extracurricular activities.  

And while some members of the PZC had concerns about the regulation text, for now, the Thanksgiving Day game will feature the McDonald's sign as well as sponsor panels for Mystic Aquarium, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital and other local businesses.

 “I have to go to Planning to get this OK’d. It’s allowed now, we have to do it quick,” King told the Board Thursday.

The athletic field signs will not be able to be seen from the street or from residences and will require site plan approval. The program is expected to pay for itself the first year, raising an anticipated $14,000 each year after. King has been working with sports signage company Side Effects. The sponsor signage programs are common on college campuses; Stonington is the first New England school district that will feature sponsor panels on its scoreboards and press boxes.

A set of advertiser panels were slated to be erected for Thursday’s Stonington High School Class of 2014 Harlem Superstars basketball fundraiser at the high school, but King said the company inadvertently shipped Stonington’s ads to Penn State and Penn’s ads here. King said he expected it to be “corrected fairly quickly.”