As college athletic departments continue to face rising costs, it should be no surprise when they pursue additional untapped sources of revenue.
The NCAA Division I Cabinet in January approved a proposal that allows any given sports team to put corporate logos or patches on its uniforms. Beginning in August, a team will be allowed up to two logos on its apparel and one more on its equipment during the preseason and regular season, as well as one more on apparel during conference championships.
LSU had a deal lined up long before the proposal even went through and has since announced plans to put Woodside Energy logos on uniforms for all 21 of its sports. It’ll be 19 teams wearing Tyson Foods patches at Arkansas. It’s not just the biggest programs, either: UNLV’s baseball, football, and men’s and women’s basketball teams will promote Acesso Biologics. The likes of Louisiana Monroe and Omaha have gotten in on the act too.
A similar deal for Kansas may not be far away. Athletic director Travis Goff told the Journal-World in an interview on Wednesday that KU is “absolutely” engaged in such discussions, “conceivably for all” of its varsity sports teams.
“We’re in an active conversation, you could almost call it maybe to the point of you’re into the fine print toward contractual,” Goff said, “on a partnership that I think’s got a chance to be, I don’t want to get overly superlative, but borderline kind of (a) game changer, certainly for us, and I think in some regard as it relates to that category of jersey patch.”
Setting aside for the moment whatever creative embellishments Goff may be referencing, what kind of financial boost could KU and its multimedia rights partner Learfield procure in exchange for such a sponsorship?
CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello earlier this year cited Learfield CEO Cole Gahagan as having set the range for a jersey patch valuation “from roughly $500,000 to more than $12 million annually.” That’s a wide range. The UNLV deal is reportedly $11 million over five years. New Mexico State is getting $350,000 per year for putting the Inn of the Mountain Gods logo on its baseball, football, men’s and women’s basketball, softball and volleyball jerseys, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News. Sports Business Journal reported that Wyoming’s five-year deal with Tallgrass for football and men’s and women’s basketball is worth $4.5 million in total.
Those are all, of course, non-power-conference schools, which suggests that KU could get high into the seven figures annually, especially if it bundles all of its varsity sports as Goff suggested. Indeed, the Houston Chronicle recently cited industry sources who said that each of Houston football and Houston men’s basketball alone could “command between $1.5 million and $2.5 million annually.”
That’s a high return for a 4-square-inch logo (that isn’t even worn during NCAA championships).
In any case, Goff said KU is “excited” and “energized.”
“We think there’s a way for it to fit and balance, right, and there’s a way for it to be a partnership that transcends just a logo on a jersey,” he added. “And I think that’s one of the things that’s that we’re really being diligent on making sure we get right.”
KU is not far removed from introducing corporate logos to its playing surfaces. The logo of MMTH is now featured prominently on Kivisto Field at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium (on MMTH’s own turf). FNBO got its mark plastered on James Naismith Court at Allen Fieldhouse beginning in November 2024.
