Westfield schools sign Riverview as health provider, stadium sponsor

Westfield Washington Schools has landed a 10-year, $1.2 million sponsor for the 5,000-seat football stadium it’s building at Westfield High School.

Noblesville-based Riverview Health also signed on as the suburban school district’s exclusive health care provider, supplying nursing and sports-medicine services for students. The deal also will include an on-site clinic for school employees.

Riverview has a similar health-care arrangement with Noblesville Schools, but that deal does not include stadium naming rights.

“This partnership further solidifies our strong commitment to our community,” Larry Christman, chief operating officer at Riverview Health, said in a prepared statement.

St. Vincent Health has been providing nurses and athletic trainers to Westfield Washington for about seven years. The hospital system also paid $20,000 a year for naming rights at the district’s soccer stadium, said Superintendent Mark Keen.

Another vendor opened the employee clinic about three years ago to lower the district’s health-care costs, he said. The Riverview-run clinic is expected to save the schools about $250,000 a year, he said.

Westfield Washington’s school board approved the Riverview agreements Tuesday night. Officials hope to break ground next month on the $7.5 million stadium, which will replace an aging facility located on high-profile property targeted for development.

As IBJ reported last month, moving the athletic fields will clear the way for a $40 million mixed-use project at U.S. 31 and State Road 32.

Westfield Washington is selling the land west of Shamrock Boulevard to the development group for $4 million, and City Council agreed last month to contribute $2.5 million accelerate stadium construction. Donors have pledged $3 million through the district’s “Build the Rock” fundraising campaign. (Click here for a rendering of the stadium.)

Football games could move to the stadium as soon as this fall, Keen said, but fans may need to bring their own chairs until the stands can be fabricated, shipped and assembled.

Not-for-profit Riverview Health operates a 156-bed hospital in Noblesville in addition to 26 primary, immediate and specialty-care facilities throughout Hamilton and Tipton counties.