It's coming close to that time of year again to enjoy the freshspring air and excitement of the sights, the sounds and the scentsof opening day at a sun-drenched stadium as another baseball seasonarrives.

Six credit unions that hold the naming rights to minor leagueparks and one that has the naming rights to a college stadium arepreparing for their opening day.

By partnering with these teams, credit unions say they helpbring affordable sports entertainment to many fans, includingmembers, their families, employees, community groups andcharities.

While investing in stadium naming rights is another way thatcredit unions give back to their members and communities, it's alsoan effective way to increase name recognition and brand awarenessamong millions of member and non-member fans who love to spend aday at the ballpark.

Last season, 48,408,316 fans flocked to minor league stadiums,up 325,486 from 2011, the first increase in attendance since 2008,according to Ballparkbiz.com.

Here's a look at why these sponsoring credit unions decided toinvest in stadium naming rights and how they leverage those namingrights as part of their marketing strategy.

Leading Off: Bethpage Ballpark

Bethpage Ballpark: The Long IslandDucks

The 6,002-seat Bethpage Ballpark is located in Central Islip inSuffolk County (western Long Island), an affluent suburb of NewYork City.

Although the $5.1 billionBethpage Federal Credit Union in Bethpage, N.Y. was expanding inthat county, its market research revealed the credit union hadlower levels of consumer awareness than its competitors.

Since the stadium opened in 2000, it has welcomed 5 million fansand hosted more than 600 sellout crowds who came to watch theirLong Island Ducks take eight division titles in the last nineseasons and win the Atlantic League Championship in 2004 and2012.

Getting exposure to millions of sports fans and the venue's highvisibility location convinced Bethpage to invest in the stadium naming rights in 2010, saidGerald Schmitt, vice president of marketing at Bethpage FCU.

The credit union sponsors a variety of events throughout thebaseball season including a Kid's Club baseball activitiesfollowing Sunday afternoon games and fireworks nights for members,employees and their families.

As part of the naming rights agreement, credit union branchemployees attend games to promote products, services and benefitsof CU membership.

“We view this type of sponsorship as part of our branding mix,”said Schmitt. “We measure brand awareness twice per year and haveseen consistent growth across our overall geographic field ofmembership as well as within branch markets.”

Between the 'Fair Poles': CommunityAmericaBallpark

CommunityAmerica Ballpark: The KansasCity T-Bones

Before forming its partnership with the Kansas City T-Bones 10years ago, the $1.8 billion CommunityAmerica Credit Union in Kansas City, Mo. had littlebrand awareness across the Missouri River in the Kansas City, Kan.,market.

When CommunityAmerica re-launched as a community-based creditunion, it identified the stadium naming rights partnership with theKC T-Bones as an opportunity to increase brand recognition in theKansas City area.

“In a broad sense, we use the stadium to spread brand awarenessand position CommunityAmerica as Kansas City's bankingcooperative,” said Lisa Ginter, chief operating officer atCommunityAmerica.

“In more tactical terms, we balance promotion of products andservices in-stadium with more subtle communications,” Ginter said.“For example, we renamed the foul poles 'fair poles' to communicateour fair-minded, reasonable rates and pricing.”

In addition, CommunityAmerica leverages other collateral andmedia, including in-game on-air radio, pocket calendars andcooperative advertising with the T-Bones. The credit union alsohosts an annual member appreciation event, treating members to afree night of baseball. And for members who want to attend morethan one game, they can buy tickets at any branch.

Over the past decade, more than 2.5 million people have come tothe 6,537-seat CommunityAmerica Ballpark to watch the T-Bones play,which holds the second-highest attendance record among the 13 teamsin the American Association of Independent Professional BaseballLeague.

“While it's difficult to calculate direct-correlated ROI in thisinstance, we have experienced a significant total market shareincrease – in fact, credit union membership has grown 156% over thelast 10 years,” Ginter said.

“In addition,” she said, “CommunityAmerica's brand awarenessamong non-members has quadrupled in the last decade, according toour latest research. It goes without saying that the naming rightsstrategic decision, while just one component of our brand awarenessefforts, certainly contributed to those significant gains.”

Now at Bat: GCS Ballpark GCSBallpark: The Gateway Grizzlies

When executives at the $311 million GCS Credit Union in GraniteCity, Ill., were presented with the opportunity for a stadiumnaming rights deal, they knew it was the right thing to do – tosupport the area's minor league baseball team, Gateway Grizzlies, apopular local source of family entertainment.

This also gave GCS the chance tobuild a presence within St. Clair County. At the time ofnegotiating the naming rights, GCS was in the process of expanding membership in thatcounty. Having the naming rights of the stadium inSauget, Ill., allowed the credit union to install an ATM onsite andoffer services to fans and GCS members attending games andevents.

Last year, more than 150,000 fans attended games at the6,000-seat GCS Ballpark, the home of a rather unique baconcheeseburger that is served on a Krispy Kreme Original Glazeddoughnut.

“Our investment benefited the credit union by providing us witha very economical source of advertising taking into considerationthe amount of on-site signage; team uniforms, the team's website,social media and fan email campaigns, as well as the reach ofadditional team marketing materials,” said Traci Louvier, GCS'smarketing manager.

“We could not have afforded this extent of branding within ourown ad programs. The naming rights sponsorship has also allowed usto introduce a GCS Grizzlies MVP debit card, which provides cardholders special GCS Ballpark discounts,” Louvier said.

Branch managers and their employees are invited to promotespecific products and services through register-to-win packagesthat help attract prospective members. GCS also sponsors dozens ofevents that benefit members, charities, schools and volunteers.

Batter Up: Gesa Stadium GesaStadium: The Tri-City Dust Devils

In southeast Washington, the word Gesa has probably becomesomething of a household name.

The $1.2 billion Gesa Credit Union in Richland, Wash., not only holds the namingrights to a 3,654-seat minor league baseball stadium in Pasco, butit also has the naming rights to a performing arts theater in Walla Walla, and a 102-year-oldcarousel housed at a local sports complex in Kennewick.

Gesa signed a 10-year naming rights agreement in 2008 with theminor league baseball team Tri-City Dust Devils. As part of theagreement, $50,000 was used to make improvements to theballpark.

The stadium gives Gesa Credit Union brand exposure among plentyof members and non-member sports fans.

For the sixth straight year, the Dust Devils broke their singleseason attendance record with a total of 86,095 fans, making 2012the eighth consecutive year of increased attendance for the minorleague team, Gesa said.

In addition, a single-game attendance record was set at lastyear's season finale game with 3,871 fans.

“There is nothing flashy about it, though the fans that comeseem to enjoy it just fine,” reads a review article on BallParkReviews.com. “Thestaff here is very friendly and (they) seem to go out of their wayto try to help fans out.”

It's just the credit union way: “People helping people.”

Now at the Plate: MCU Park MCU Park: The BrooklynCyclones

The minor league Brooklyn Cyclones have played in MCU Park in New York City's ConeyIsland since 2001, not far from legendary Yankees Stadium andCitiField, home of the New York Mets.

Despite playing in the shadow oftwo major league teams, the Cyclones have developed a strong andloyal following in Brooklyn and the city, attracting nearly 7,000fans per game and notching the highest attendance in the New YorkPenn League.

Steve Kibitel, vice president of marketing for the $1.7 billionMunicipal Credit Union, said the New York credit union's namingrights investment is part of an overall marketing strategy tocontinue growing in communities where members work and live.

“Although we had a strong presence in Brooklyn, we did not havea physical presence in the Coney Island area of the borough,” saidKibitel. “Shortly after the naming rights deal (in 2010), we wereable to secure an express branch location adjacent to MCU Park.Additionally, we were confident that the publicity gained fromhaving MCU Park named after the credit union would lead to anincrease in new members.”

In addition to promoting products and services during homegames, member and networking events, MCU partners withEnterprise to offer auto loans to members who buy cars fromthe rental car dealer.

“We have not calculated a direct return on investment forpurchasing the naming rights due to the fact that we have madeother changes to our marketing efforts in the past few years whichwould also have some sort of impact on changes to our revenue andmembership growth” Kibitel explained.

“We can say, however, that we have experienced increased growthin each year since we purchased naming rights to MCU Park,” hesaid.

Digging for Home: Security ServiceField

Security Service Field: The ColoradoSprings Sky Sox

Perched 6,531 feet above sea level, Security Service Field inColorado Springs is at a higher elevation than any otherprofessional baseball park in North America, according to Baseball Prospectus, awebsite that features sabermetric analysis of baseball.

Although the $6.8 billion Security Service Federal Credit Union in San Antonio, Texas,has been serving Colorado since 1980, its managers decided itneeded to increase its brand awareness in the highly competitiveColorado Springs market.

“The focus of our overall marketing strategy with SecurityService Field is to be a part of something that is good for thecommunity, let folks know we are involved and, at the same time,let's help folks in the community,” said John Worthington,executive vice president for communications at Security ServiceFCU.

In addition to providing several free admission nights for thosewho serve in the military and their families, the credit uniondonates its skybox loge to charities for their fundraisingefforts.

One of the most popular events at the ballpark is “Used CarNight.” Security Service, among the largest indirect auto lenders in the nation, gathers about adozen good-condition used cars donated by dealers. Fans put theirname in a hopper and the lucky winners drive home with a car thatnight.

“One of our enduring goals of our institution is communityservice; investing in the stadium rights is one of the great waysto do that, and our employees love to be a part of that,”Worthington said. “I can't tell you how many checking accounts weopened as a result of our naming rights, but I know it'shappening.”

Former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens is shown here throwing outthe first pitch at a Sky Sox game.

In the Cleanup Spot: UFCU Disch-FalkField

UFCU Disch-Falk Field: The TexasLonghorns

In the big state of Texas, the University of Texas Longhorns'baseball team is big. The Longhorns are the winningest NCAADivision I college baseball program and boast six nationalchampionships – most recently in 2005.

So it's no wonder that the Longhorns rank fifth among Division Ibaseball programs in attendance, averaging 6,337 per home game,according to the NCAA Baseball Attendance Report.

In 2005, the $1.5 billion University Federal Credit Union in Austin, Texas, agreed tocontribute $13.1 million over 15 years toward the retirement of thedebt that financed the stadium's renovation, including an initial$1.5 million gift and annual contributions that began in the thirdyear of the agreement.

The newly renovated 6,756-seat stadium was renamed UFCUDisch-Falk Field. For years, the stadium was known as Disch-FalkField, named after the team's past legendary coaches.

After the naming rights agreement was announced in 2005, TonyBudet, UFCU president/CEO, said the visibility and awareness gainedthrough this partnership would position the credit union forgrowth.

The numbers back that up.

UFCU assets have grown from $700 million in 2005 to nearly $1.6billion today. In those same years, net income has increased from$7.1 million to nearly $10 million and membership has grown from109,357 to 157,563, according to its most recent NCUA reports.

Hook em, Horns! Fans show their appreciation for the TexasLonghorns at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.