Opinion: Michigan football adding ads to uniforms would be big mistake

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Rival Michigan State recently announced that it will be adding sponsorship patches to its football jerseys, earning derision from Michigan football fans in the process. However, it appears that the Wolverines may actually follow suit.

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel sent out an email to fans, per The Athletic's Austin Meek, where he noted that the program is strongly considering adding jersey patches, logos to the field, and in-stadium sponsorships, flying in the face of more than a century-plus of tradition.

For generations, the bowl of Michigan Stadium has been a sacred space. We have intentionally protected the Big House from the commercialization seen elsewhere, limiting on-field and in-stadium visuals to the Big Ten Conference logo, the Allstate field goal nets, and our partnerships with Nike/Jordan and Gatorade. Given my history as a football player, I have great respect for Michigan Stadium's long, storied, and distinguished history. We will work to ensure that any advertising is implemented strategically, tastefully, and in a manner consistent with the values of the University of Michigan.

However, to support our student-athletes in this new era without compromising their competitive edge, we must carefully expand our corporate sponsorships into venues where we have previously held back. To that end, our partners at Michigan Sports Properties and Learfield are currently in discussions with potential sponsors about our new Leaders and Best Champion Partner Program.

We are approaching these discussions with the utmost respect for the tradition of the Big House. We are exploring new revenue assets that are highly visible but thoughtfully integrated, including:

Multiple things here, none of them good. And certainly, the initial fan reaction is utter disgust, at least the vocal proponent.

It is understandable in this new era of college football to modernize with the times and to stay as financially relevant as possible. However, are in-stadium ads and on-field logos really that necessary? After all, plenty of other teams (most actually) have those already. So this isn't a case where something new is legal, and if you don't acclimate, you're getting left behind. So if Michigan has already eschewed such tactics, it's not exactly a necessity to follow what other programs have done for some time, breaking longstanding traditions in the process. Additionally, given the sacred nature, as acknowledged by Manuel, of both the stadium bowl and the jerseys, then these should be last resorts, if anything at all. And fans will not go along with them unless it was something essentially mandated by the conference or NCAA — much like how the team wore 150-year anniversary patches in 2019.

Fans have clamored over less. During his tenure as athletic director, Dave Brandon put a Kraft macaroni and cheese noodle outside of The Big House in the offseason, and it was met with a collective uproar. Fans have rebelled against alternate jerseys with only a few exceptions. Even the uniforms worn by the maize team in the spring game would not be welcome by a large swath, if not the majority, of the fanbase if it were for a regular season game.

And then comes the Learfield and Michigan Sports Properties element. If those entities are the ones pushing, Michigan has to say no. There are already controlling parties in the media sphere, such as the TV networks, and the program cannot further lose autonomy if it's to acquiesce to outside parties. That opens up several cans of worms and toothpaste that cannot be put back into the tube.

Testing the viability of revenue streams is prudent, so if this is merely a tactic to judge how the fans would take such moves, then this is a decent move, because then Manuel can simply point to the rejection of these measures by the constituency and then pivot to something more palatable. However, if this were to move forward, and jersey patches and in-stadium ads come to The Big House, that's not something that the program or the athletic director will ever live down. After all, the noodle was a big part of the negative perception (amongst many other things) of Dave Brandon. Actually breaking with 'sacred traditions' would be all the worse.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football considering ads on uniforms, in-stadium

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