Sam Houston State University has agreed to a one-year, football-only jersey patch partnership with sports media company Snapback Sports, Front Office Sports has learned. The deal makes Sam Houston the second Conference USA school to sign a jersey patch sponsor since the NCAA approved commercial patches on Division I uniforms in January.
Snapback produces a wide range of sports content, including “Snapback Saturdays,” its flagship digital series centered around college football road trips and stadium tours. The media company—which has nearly 2 million followers across all of its social accounts—traces its origins back to a Snapchat account started in 2017 by Jack Settleman. It was formally incorporated in 2021 and now has 15 employees.
Settleman has shared his desire to “spend $100,000 on a college football jersey” on his public social media channels for months. With this deal, he told FOS, Snapback “got its price.”
The agreement will see Snapback’s logo—a simple hat icon—in a 2-by-2-inch patch on the Bearkats football uniforms, but it won’t feature the company’s standard bright yellow coloring. “It was very important to both us and Sam Houston to select a minimalist design that respects and aligns with their team colors,” which are orange and white, Settleman explained. “We could’ve added a wordmark, but we ended up going with just the hat because it lends itself to a little intrigue. People might see it and Google, ‘What’s this logo?’”
The prospect of people seeing a logo and seeking out more information about it is a primary selling point of college jersey patches for any brand, but especially for a relatively young one like Snapback. Settleman said Sam Houston’s 2026 slate of five nationally televised games—including three straight on ESPN2 in October—made it stand out as a potential partner in Snapback’s price range. (Rice and East Carolina University were among the other schools the company held talks with.)
As part of its tie-up, Snapback will produce at least 50 pieces of content on behalf of Sam Houston across its social channels, including a “Snapback Saturdays” episode that will highlight the campus and its surrounding town, Huntsville, Texas. The company is also standing up a Sam Houston–Snapback message board, where fans can chat throughout the season. Perhaps most notable, though, is the level of access Sam Houston is giving Snapback for content creation purposes; select Snapback talent will travel with the team—on its plane, at its hotel, on its bus, and in its locker room—to a to-be-determined away game, documenting the entire experience.
Among those making the trip will likely be Settleman, his long-time “Snapback Saturdays” cohost, Tim Kalinowski, and a new (but much more well-known) face: Melvin Gordon. The former All-American and Super Bowl-winning running back is joining the cast of the digital series this fall, Settleman told FOS.
Between the patch sponsorship and Gordon’s addition, Snapback is angling to use this college football season as a way to position itself among other well-known voices and personalities in the CFB landscape.
“We’re kind of in this middle ground in the college sports content space right now,” said Settleman. “You’ve got College GameDay and Big Noon Kickoff. You’ve got Josh Pate, Bussin’ With The Boys, Barstool Sports. And then after that there’s a whole lot of other people creating college football content. We think we’re in that top-tier, so we’re hopeful that these moments can elevate us and separate us from the pack a bit.”
And with this season marking Sam Houston’s fourth as a FBS school, the Bearkats are hoping the partnership can deliver something similar. “You can see the passion and excitement [Snapback has] for Sam Houston and helping to advance our university brand to a new audience,” Sam Houston AD Bobby Williams told FOS. “I’m looking forward to what this partnership will bring, not only for the football program, but the exposure this will bring to our entire department and university.”
Settleman said there is “slim chance” that Snapback explores another patch deal during basketball season—“possibly with Sam Houston or possibly with a different school”—reflecting the fluid nature of the still-new sponsorship market.
