BEATRICE – A Waukee, Iowa based sports and recreation consulting firm is having some big early success in helping the City of Beatrice raise private support for a renovated Hannibal Park.


Sportsman Solutions was hired by the city to raise funds from private entities, for the naming rights to the park, ballfields…and perhaps other city recreational facilities.
Ryan Patrick of Sportsman Solutions says the effort has generated about $315,000 in support, with several more donors on the way.  "Either four or five more....so another $100,000 in sponsorships, so we're pretty excited about that."  Additional proposals will soon come before the Beatrice City Council.


"As far as assets on the table, we're meeting with anybody and everybody across Gage County...and basically, the opportunities, the assets are first-come, first-served. We and the city would love it to be able to meet with you and share what's going on...and see how we could include you in being part of the park's progress."


Sportsman Solutions is part of Sportsplex West…..based in a Des Moines suburb. The company works with youth sports organizations…..that count upwards of 13,000 youth participants.


"Myself, I'm in Sioux Falls, South Dakota...so we cover a lot of the Midwest. We have projects going on all across the United States. Probably, 80-percent of our work is with city municipalities. As far as how we got our start....is basically from the youth sports world, and we kind of ventured out from that. We're building our own sports complex in Des Moines, so we understand the landscape of the youth sports world....sports complexes, recreation centers, amphitheatres...destinations where folks gather."


Patrick says there’s a lot of opportunities for companies when it comes to naming rights…..essentially putting an identity on a business’s own billboard. This is Sportsman’s first municipal client project in Nebraska, though Patrick says he’s worked with a related entity to provide help to Grand Island and Gretna with support of facilities and naming rights.


Patrick is President of the sponsorship division of the company….which has projects in Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska. Patrick says he comes from the sports world…describing himself as a journeyman knuckleball pitcher who played with the Sioux Falls Canaries baseball team…his first outing against the Lincoln Saltdogs.