As college football games begin this weekend, the sport is looking and feeling more corporate, with schools continuing to shift their business models in the first year of revenue-sharing.
This season, more big-name programs and traditional powerhouses are hopping on the trend of adding on-field sponsor logos—one of the most noticeable money-making practices for fans.
Texas is debuting the logo of cardiovascular health company Humann across all its sports venues, including on the field at 100,000-seat Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium. The additional cash that the deal will bring in comes on top of the Longhorns bringing in $331.9 million in operating revenues during the 2023–24 fiscal year, marking the first time that a Division I public school has reported more than $300 million in both revenues and expenses in the same year.
SEC schools Arkansas and South Carolina are also adding sponsor logos to their football fields this season, and Penn State—one of the oldest programs in college football—will now be playing at West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium after selling the naming rights to their playing surface.
Before the NCAA changed its rules last year, corporate logos were allowed on the field only at bowl games, sponsored neutral sites, and instances when a sponsor had purchased naming rights to the field, stadium, or facility.
Many schools across the nation—including big brands like Tennessee and Oklahoma State—quickly hopped on the sponsor field logo trend in 2024.
The Next Frontier?
LSU, which has not yet sold an on-field sponsorship at Tiger Stadium, is reportedly seeking approval from the NCAA to sell sponsored jersey patches, which would be a first in college athletics. School officials believe the move could bring in millions of dollars annually, according to The New Orleans Advocate.
If the NCAA were to allow sponsored jersey patches, like professional teams in the NBA, NHL, and MLB already have, schools could theoretically sell packaged deals in which a brand’s name and/or logo could appear on both the team’s playing surface and players’ jerseys.
