Anchorage Daily News

Get ready to take the kids to the Conoco Phillips soccer field, if the Anchorage Assembly agrees that a new 2,000-seat soccer stadium at Kincaid Park should be named after the oil giant, that is.

The proposal goes before the Assembly on Tuesday, with a public hearing expected next month. The question is whether to reward Conoco for donating more than $500,000 toward park projects by calling the upcoming field "Conoco Phillips Stadium and Field at Kincaid Park."

The outdoor, artificial turf stadium is one of eight soccer fields under construction at Kincaid, said David Parish, a local lobbyist and soccer coach.

Parish is chairman of a nonprofit called Kincaid Project Group, which is pushing for a $10 million collection of sports and recreation upgrades at Kincaid Park. Along with a newly opened biathlon range and the upcoming soccer fields, the plan calls for a snowmaking system and paved trails.

The nonprofit has raised about $6 million so far, Parish said.

The money comes from the state, feds and private donors. One of the biggest givers is Anchorage's Rasmuson Foundation, which kicked in $2 million through a grant to the Anchorage Park Foundation.

The Kincaid nonprofit is still searching for donors to pay for the rest of the project. Write a check for $10,000, for example, and you might get a hole on the disc golf course named after you.

Ultimately, whether to name the stadium after Conoco, the state's biggest oil and gas producer, is the Assembly's call. The city Parks and Recreation Commission weighed in last year, supporting the name.

But the commission also said that the name shouldn't be permanent, and should only last as long as the "useful life" of the stadium.

After that, Conoco could donate more money to rehabilitate the stadium if the company wanted to keep the name, said commission chairman Jeff Clarke.

"It's why big stadiums change names every five or 10 years," he said.

But a committee appointed by Mayor Mark Begich and Assemblyman Dan Coffey shot down that idea, saying the name shouldn't have any sunset date.

"Life cycle is a difficult term to agree upon because it is heavily affected by maintenance, something out of the donor's control," wrote naming committee chairman Devery Prince.

Other public facilities in Anchorage are named after businesses, including KFQD Park and the Wells Fargo Sports Complex at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

UAA named a new science building on its campus after Conoco last month after the oil giant's $15 million, five-year pledge to the university.

Find Kyle Hopkins' political blog online at adn.com/alaskapolitics or call him at 257-4334.

ADVERTISEMENT